Helicopter Wheels #1

[risegold8929]

I gave it a little run about 10 minutes ago and these are my observations:

-The ability to taxi on the ground gives an extra dimension to chopper piloting, allowing the pilot to taxi around the carrier/runway. This is good as it means no longer will I have to fly 1ft off the ground in order to just fly 2m down the carrier/runway as I did not land on the reloading area, instead I can just taxi forwards at no risk to other air traffic.

-When landing the chopper it rolls at the speed that you touched down at (good) which is easily counter-acted by the pilot using the reverse taxi direction effectively acting as a brake (in combination with using the S key). Also, this means that flying a transport chopper will now require a bit more skill by the pilot who will require a (slightly) larger landing area.

-After doing some tests as to how different landing speeds affect the actual landing, I found that anything under 250km/h is easily manageable to apply reverse thrust and come to a safe stop, but anything over around a 550km/h landing and then attempting to apply reverse taxi runs a high risk of sending the chopper pointing 45-90 degrees into the sky and wildly whipping back wards at a high speed (similar to what happens to new "noob" PR pilots when trying to land their first helicopter as they flare drastically, and therefore over compensate for speed sending the helicopter speeding backwards). This highspeed can easily be brought down to a manageable lower speed by doing a slight flare when reaching the LZ (which leads conditions perfect for hover landing or a slow rolling landing) or tapping (default) S as you approach the LZ.

-The ability to roll forward does not contribute much to the takeoff (sadly) and you can still easily takeoff in a hover by slightly applying reverse taxi as you increase power.

-With regards to the forward rolling being used as a momentum gain before takeoff, the maximum you can gain is around 40-50 km/h in forwards taxi which can easily be gained in flight if you decide to do a hover takeoff anyway. (Fun fact:While testing taxiing out on the Chinook, holding the 'S' key along with apply reverse taxi allowed me to travel at 330 km/h backwards).

-Having wheels on these choppers adds a slight difference to increased stability on the ground when turning your helicopter to face a different direction (e.g. Compare to the Lynx).

-Different choppers have power differences in taxiing. For example the Chinook is alot more powerful when taxiing when compared to the H-34.

If I had to choose between the old system and the new system, I would definitely choose the new system as it feels more polished and (dare I say) realistic.

[Rhino]

Right hopefully enough players have had a chance to try out this new feature so I've added a poll to this topic to determine if this should be added to all wheeled choppers in v1.0

Please only vote once you've tried this feature.

Cheers!

[Rhino]

bumpy, only 13 votes so far, surly more than 13 people have flown the wheeled choppers in PR:F?

[[F|H]Zackyx]

add it !

[havoc1482]

I just tried it out. I think its cool. I practiced landing and taking off from areas around the map and it definitely made landing on surfaces with a slight slope more challenging as the helicopter will roll down a hill ect. But I also noticed something neat about that too: With the taxi controls you can land on an uneven surface and not risk rolling over because the helicopter isn't meeting any resistance from the ground, the wheels just follow the slope and you can guide the chopper.

I think it should absolutely be added into the game.

Cheers devs!

[Rhino]

guywithawrench, care to give a reason why you voted no? Just interested why

With the taxi controls you can land on an uneven surface and not risk rolling over because the helicopter isn't meeting any resistance from the ground, the wheels just follow the slope and you can guide the chopper.

Ye, one of the positives of choppers with wheels is they are much harder to flip for this reason, as the wheels will compensate for any movement instead of the entire chopper flipping over

But isn't impossible to flip them either

[Xander[nl]]

I like it, just needs a fix for going backwards. The Chinook can reach 420km/h driving backwards.

[havoc1482]

But isn't impossible to flip them either

Not gonna disagree haha, because I did.....

[Rhino]

;1856347']I like it, just needs a fix for going backwards. The Chinook can reach 420km/h driving backwards.

Ye iirc we are significantly toning down the "negative thrust" on choppers in v1.0 but not 100% on that

But ye, one way or another that needs to be fixed

[Rhino]

bumpy

Also Finrar, care to explain why you voted not (just interested) and still waiting for your response too guywithawrench on why you also voted no. Cheers

[Microwaife]

It's a great feature, I just need to get used to it.

I crashed 2 choppers on Falklands, because i didn't know about it.

[ExeTick]

I accidently taxid my way down the ocean when I was playing falklands. but its a great future

[Rhino]

Ye, being able to land on the water in the surrounding terrain is a bug I've got to fix, but was a better alternative to being able to fly under the water as per before

[Microwaife]

Dont really know, but probably there will be problems landing a chinook on f.e. kokan when the helicopter rolls away. IRL a chinook is not really made to land in/on a very small LZ/landing pad.

[Rhino]

Well that's more of a map problem tbh

[ExeTick]

is it possible to make kokan mainbase for US/canada bigger?

[Rhino]

Its celestially possible, but would require some amount of reworking and re-lightmapping.

[Microwaife]

Sure its a map problem, which might cause some problems when this (great) feature will be implemented.

Just wanted to point it out. So that maybe someone can fix it or find a solution. Or the testers could test if its still possible to land the chinook in the base without any problems.

[Rhino]

Well it isn't too hard to land directly on a spot, takes a bit of getting use to but you just don't fly in, you hover then come down and any movement on the ground you correct with the taxi engine

[zombie-yellow]

Maybe that would be a problem when you MUST reach the helipad because you're 3 seconds away from blowing up in the sky... I've done this tons of times with the Blackhawk : rushing to the helipad and landing it at 300 km/h and stopping almost instantly

Might have to rework my emergency procedures lol