The AI is landing a AH-64A

[+Gepard]

All helicopters in the SF World have one major problem. The AI is unable to land the birds. While landing approach the helis starts to dance till they crash.

Dels great AH-64 Apache was the reason for me to start a attempt to make a flightmodel for helicopters which the AI is able to handle also in landing approach and touchdown. After some failures i have now a FM what can do that. But it is only a beginning. The rotors are not yet rotating, there is no armament, no pilots etc. Its still a long way to go.

 

 

some seconds before touchdown at Kunduz Air Base Afghanistan.

Edited October 16, 2011 by Gepard

[krfrge]

Gepard,

 

As I am not an FM I can only look and learn. Is the reason helo's typically crash with AI is due to the type of approach?

[+Gepard]

Seems to be so. The AI cant handle slow speeds with the previous FM. With my FM it can land without problems, but i cant hovering the Heli anymore. Lets see, how to solve this problem.

[krfrge]

Sounds like there has to be a balance between forward speed and rate of descent. Forward speed needs to be just enough that the AI recognizes the forward motion but yet not so fast that it prohibits hovering.

[+kreelin]

All helicopters in the SF World have one major problem. The AI is unable to land the birds.

 

Actually it can be done (

) but you will need a lot of trials and errors. And AFAIR Marcelo Mi-8 was able to land.

 

More "funky" AI landing at the end of this vid :-)

 

Edited October 24, 2011 by kreelin

[+baffmeister]

Gepard, have you tried using the AI entry LandingSpeed=xxx. From playing around with that entry a bit I get the impression it actually changes the approach speed, not the landing speed. Maybe with a higher approach speed the helos will stay under control? I don't have any helos installed but might download one, I have an idea to get them into campaigns but have to do some testing first. Actually, before doing any testing I will first ask: Has anyone figured out a good way to get helicopters into campaigns? Cheers.

[Icarus999]

Actually it can be done ( http://www.dailymoti...zone_videogames ) but you will need a lot of trials and errors. And AFAIR Marcelo Mi-8 was able to land.

 

More "funky" AI landing at the end of this vid :-)

 

http://www.dailymoti...alry_videogames

 

Something very special going on with the flight models in these vids, especialy the first video. The AI has a serious problem maintaining level flight with almost all helicopters made for this series- with a very few notable exceptions such as the yap2 helicopters which fly straight and level. Most of the choppers flown by the AI will nose up and down gaining and losing altitude twisting and turning in an irritating yet comical display.

[+Gepard]

Has anyone figured out a good way to get helicopters into campaigns? Cheers.

 

A heli you can get in the campaign in the same way like other aircraft types. Simply set to a unit and it will fly the helis in combat.

[+kreelin]

The AI has a serious problem maintaining level flight with almost all helicopters made for this series- with a very few notable exceptions such as the yap2 helicopters which fly straight and level. Most of the choppers flown by the AI will nose up and down gaining and losing altitude twisting and turning in an irritating yet comical display.

 

Do not forget that the SF series are jet / props aircrafts simu. That means the AI engine in the game will handle any flying craft like a "plane". That's why they will "always" nose up or down to gain or loose altitude whatever the FM.

 

Now about the ability for AI to flight straight with copters, you can see in my two vids, they perfectly fly clean ;-). And it was done with SFP1 series 4 years ago.

Edited October 25, 2011 by kreelin

[+baffmeister]

I should have explained my helicopter campaign concept better. I was thinking that it would be interesting to have them working out of "Helicopter Only" forward operating areas. The concept I had was to make land based helicopter carriers that would be just flat Lods that would fit in with the terrain and could be placed near the front lines. Unfortunatly, game engine won't allow it. I tried placing an unpowered version of the Ark Royal on land and it shows up OK but the test planes I used blew up as soon as they showed up. Not sure why.

A different approach, and the one I think I will try is to have forward operating helicopter pads [small airports], near the front lines. Next step would be to reduce the range of the helicopters to a couple hundred kilometers. Any aircraft that aren't helicopters would have their airbase size set to medium, to keep them away from the helicopter pads. I think with the range limitation the helicopters would be confined to the forward helo pads during game generated quick missions. Campaign use would be as per normal. The recent staggered take off mod by EzLead would probably be a nice feature for the helicopter pads as well. Anyway, I downloaded a helicopter to experiment with. Cheers.