Based on previous forum posts I’ve read, I’ve come up with solutions to mitigate the issues of Helis in Air Sim.
Issue 1: Airfield Camping
The issue is as follows: Helicopters in air simulator could be used to camp airfields - ruining the game for Plane players
Solution: Increased AA for airfields to protect against slower moving targets.
Airfield AA only uses two vehicles at top tier, the VEAK and the Roland 1, I suggest increasing the Airfield AA proximity to create rings of defense - utilising long range SAMs in close proximity to the airfield - medium ranged AA such as the ITO/Roland in medium proximity, and SHORAD about 2-3km from the airfield, such as the ZSU-23M-4, M247, LAV-AD, etc.
Issue 2: Helicopters being an easy target for Planes
The issue is as follows: Helicopters in Air Sim would be an easy target for planes
Solution: Larger maps, more ground targets and AI helicopters
I will address this solution in 3 parts.
Larger maps
Larger maps could help make helicopters less defenseless, ensuring that helicopters aren’t easily targeted, more diverse terrain and cover could also be implemented to help helicopters avoid aircraft.
More ground units
More ground units, such as AI SPAA, etc, could be used to protect helicopters.
Ai helicopters
Similar to AI aircraft, AI helicopters could be implemented to help clutter the airspace, transport helicopters such as the Mi-8, UH-1, UH-60, etc. These would be troop transports, and would be similar to bombers, these would carry “infantry” (probably shouldn’t be modelled) which would cause a slight ticket drain if they arrive at their destination.
Issue 3: Battle rating issues
The issue is as follows: Certain helicopters are at a lower BR than would be historical - such as the HK3PC being 7.7 - Early jet br.
Solution: Seperate BRs for the Simulator and Ground Realistic game mode.
Fairly self explanatory - Helicopters should have BRs to respect their historical place.
Issue 4: Helicopters taking up space that aircraft could occupy.
Solution:Different spawns for Planes and Helicopters.
There could be 16 Planes and 4 helicopters, with players being limited to one or the other. - Implementation would be rough but it could be finessed.
What else do helicopters offer in Air Sim? I’m glad you asked!
A new way to grind Helicopter trees.
More diversified gameplay in air sim
Let me know what you guys think, and refine any suggestions I submitted here in the replies xd
I don’t think that most helicopters will be easy targets for planes. Some early helicopters may struggle but I think the majority of the more advanced helicopters will be able to fight back pretty well. It’s pretty hard to find helicopters using aircraft radar since they are pretty slow and fly very low. Also with how hit or miss the rendering of vehicles are in Sim that also affects player’s ability to spot them from the air.
If they are added hopefully we see some fixes to SPAA AI sniping you from miles away at the same time. Playing Heli PvE these SPAA’s are absolutely cracked and can be infuriating to deal with with how accurate they are.
We would need the rendering of other vehicles to be reworked as well. You circle around a convoy on the map looking everywhere for the 1 pixel dot which often just isn’t there. This would be much worse flying a helicopters to specifically go after the ground targets.
Also a revamp to using guided weapons from within the cockpit would be nice to see. There are TGP MFD screens in most aircraft that have guided weapons but they are just for show. It would be nice if you could actually use them instead of using the camera/gunner view. The screens themselves are pretty bad as well since they are way to over exposed so you just end up seeing the faint outline of whatever you locked within just a black or white background. Just try using the TISEO system on the F-14B. You can’t see a thing through it and if you want to use it outside of 1.5km you need to carry the LANTIRN pod for it to work.
Overall adding helicopters to Sim would be a great addition and help massively with the grind for them but some big changes would need to be made and some new features introduced for it to be worthwhile.
There’s a good video someone made about helicopters vs planes in Sim. It would be pretty balanced depending on both vehicles but it also shows just how hard it can be to spot helicopters while in a plane.
+1
This is such a logical combo in my opinion, ground targets outside of bases are mostly just left alone since finding them without targeting pods and cameras is a pain in the butt while flying at them, helicopters would be so good to use for ground units in air sim maps.
Unless the helicopters are flying at 3km alt without any back clutter for radars they are not exactly easy to find and hit from what ive found, and alot of helicopters have good cannons or A2A missiles to defend themselves atleast at 10BR and over that. lower than that they would need to be found by naked eye so they would have an easy time hiding themselves from planes.
ive always been able to fly unnoticed low enough with an attacker under a fighter jet coming at me because its very hard to scan air and ground below you effectively.
1.) their radar signatures are corrected, they should be screaming obvious targets on PD radars, regardless of altitude.
2.) their damage models are improved, way to surviveable in comparison to aircraft especially when combined with point 3
3.) their flight models are not up to scratch for Sim gameplay. Press 1 button and you get a fantasy UFO that has no regard for physics or material strength properties. Its the equivalent of getting aircraft that cant rip their wings regardless of how many Gs you pull or maneuvers you pull.
Not in lookdown mode if they are hovering, they are stationary targets and if there is ground/trees/mountain anywhere near them the radars are going to filter them out as ground clutter. But yes, currently they are a bit to hard to radar lock even against clear sky and PD has a hard time seeing them when they move.
which is already announced as something they are actively and currently working on.
This is incorrect. Their rotors present an obvious return on PD radars, regardless of aspect or airspeed. Its the same reason even cold aspect aircraft present strong HPRF(hdn) PD returns because of the visible turbine blades trhough the exhaust. The difference is helicopter rotors are much larger and always visible.
Theoretically yes, but they also have such a tiny cross section that i doubt that any radar in game would have the capability to detect them at far enough away for you to have time to both lock and fire a missile before you fly past it.
and that would then be in a straight 0 degree approach in the plane of rotation. the more of an angle you have, the less they are moving in the plane you are detecting and get harder and harder to detect until you are 90 degree and no movement is done away from or towards you.
