Helicopter Evasion

[_Tim_]

Helicopters under fire during the human controlled turn (in game vs AI) may be temporarily computer controlled to evade fire, usually by flying back towards the human controlled side of the map.

A helicopter at high altitude will stay at this altitude when evading. The first thing I do when I regain control of movement is to descend to low altitude as this will often break LOS.

Would it be possible to code the 'automatic' evasion routine to immediately drop from high to low altitude before moving? This would presumably mirror the normal behaviour of pilots when under fire, equivalent to the infantry response of diving for cover.

Helicopters at low altitude would stay there rather than drop to land so this refinement only applies when at high altitude.

Fair enough if it can't be done, and apologies if it has previously been considered and rejected, but heh, don't ask, don't get.

cheers,

Tim

[Skirmisher]

Interesting. I never ever fly helicopters (eggbeaters) at high altitude.

Only reason to that I can think of going to high altitude is too have a look at what's about. But fixed wing aircraft is better suited to that.

[CTarana]

I always run the Apaches as high as they can go, and as far out as I can get them. It's their job to overwatch for my forces below them and pick off any immediate threats. Occasionally one will encounter an enemy unit with enough firepower to get a shot at one. At that point I lower the altitude to low and work my way towards the threat and eliminate it.

ChristopherT

[Skirmisher]

Sounds good in theory ,but a robust air defense will bring those high flying apaches down fast. Then they won't be overwatching anything.

[Listy]

Originally Posted by Skirmisher

Sounds good in theory ,but a robust air defense will bring those high flying apaches down fast. Then they won't be overwatching anything.

If your not careful a decent MBT can blast them. I find that T-80's are great at that, as the ATGM is very likely to kill the helicopter.

[iCaMpWiThAWP]

Originally Posted by Listy

If your not careful a decent MBT can blast them. I find that T-80's are great at that, as the ATGM is very likely to kill the helicopter.

I once got a platoon of helicopters destroyed by tanks, i was trying to drop some engineers to bust bunkers (no 16inch avaiable)...

[Imp]

Don't leave them hanging about & the tanks won't get em.
I would say you need to be confident whats about to end turn with them high but poping up to take a shot can be much more accurate than moving.

[mosborne]

I like the idea of recoding to drop altitude. With the current code, evasion at high alt. just draws more shots, more evasion, more shots until eventually the copter is destroyed, damaged or enemy runs out of ammo. The copter should drop to low altitude, to stop this senseless maneuver. Note the move takes place after the missile detonates, so why keep it up high?

[iCaMpWiThAWP]

Originally Posted by mosborne

I like the idea of recoding to drop altitude. With the current code, evasion at high alt. just draws more shots, more evasion, more shots until eventually the copter is destroyed, damaged or enemy runs out of ammo. The copter should drop to low altitude, to stop this senseless maneuver. Note the move takes place after the missile detonates, so why keep it up high?

Yeah, its actually pretty frustrating when your helicopters rech the dz flying high to avoid RPGs and small arms fire and someone fires a 7.62 at you knowing that it wont do any damage, but will make it evade(for no reason) and create more op fires... actually this evasion thing isn't always good as it uses your mp to do something you dont want

[Suhiir]

I too would love it if helo's at high altitude would first drop to low before they evade.
As for the folks already at low altitude ... well if you're under fire you either A) Screwed up B) Are doing your job