I love how versatile the Little Bird is. So much fun to fly, especially at low altitudes, zipping through tree lines and looking for gaps. Most of the time I fall victim to spotting telegraph lines too late.
I had no idea Arma 3 modeled ricochet like this. AND had no idea it was detailed enough that you could use an anti-infantry weapon to shoot out tires of armored vehicles. Your tutorials are so in depth they cover the subject matter broadly, /and/ bring up general information I didn't already have. /Well/ done. I'm off to see if you have any other tutorials this well made.
Fantastic work - thoroughly informative, and as beautiful looking as it is helpful. One question: As the Art of Flight series continues, would it be possible to have some accompanying simple mission files that would allow us to practice the tactics you show in each tutorial? While many of us can easily throw together some stuff in the editor, I think that your experience would present a more authentic situation that has a better focus on the topic at hand. Using the mission files you used for the creation video means a reasonable amount of the work in making a companion piece for the lesson would already be done. I'm sure you have a ton of stuff on your plate already, but it's just something to consider.
+A K: You're basically saying "If you play KOTH, this is how things work", which is akin to playing an entirely different game. You have no fear of death, you have rearm available at a moment's notice, and it's one giant disorganized TDM clusterfuck. It's night and day from the situations I'm talking about here. That may work in KOTH, but it doesn't have relevance otherwise.
+Dslyecxi Actually referring to EUTW CTI and i do fear for my pawnee. I scout, find the target, assess the geography around the target and use it to come in low, well hidden and fast, pop up to aim, and fire. Ofcourse i would divert if engadged by the target or another enemy and reassess the situation. Why would these listed tactics not be of relevance otherwise? It is THE approach to taking out tanks in a safe and effective manner. Didnt expect you do be that defensive about it. Can you not agree that the pawnee is capable of way more damage output that you said it can and that there are more versatile tactics for the pawnee to engaging all kinds of targets. If not, why not. I would really be interested to hear your arguments instead of you discarding everything i wrote by saying that i am refering to the KoTH Clusterfuck and that i basically dont know what i am talking about, please.
A K - The situation you describe is a game mode that is significantly removed from what I play and what my guides are understandably based around. If it works for you - great - but it doesn't have relevance to me. You see a big distinction between KOTH and CTI, whereas I do not. A tank can be taken out in a pinch by a Littlebird in our scenarios (you can find some examples of me doing this), but it's not a go-to tactic and it wouldn't be sensible to state it as such. We use full-scale attack helicopters, ground forces, or jets to deal with tanks. In the future, ATGM-equipped Littlebirds will be able to handle it, but that's a very different situation from FFARs.
+Dslyecxi Every tip here can easily go into the KOTH universe. Problem is people want to know how to magically spot somebody on the spot, turn and kill them, while successfully being able to gtfo; rinse and repeat. Answer to that is communication, monitor "tv + trackir helps" and muscle memory, which will cost you some time in the editor to perfect. So as far as this video, think of it as a math book for KOTH, while seeing / maneuvering is like numbers is to math or letters are to words; it is something that if you don't know, go practice or go home.
I love the little bird! Most people use the bigger helos to transport people and to have some protection, but I find the idea of using terrain as protection much more fun.
You are worth whatever donation I can nudge your way. You almost sound bored at times, but I figure that's because what you cover you know so well by experience. These videos are fantastic.
I haven't even finished the clip and I had to drop out to give the well deserved videography props. This video contains some outstanding framing, motion and perspective shots Ive ever seen from machinima or film. You don't get shots like this without many many retakes. This most have taken a significant amount of time. Again major props. Now back to the video!
Theese videos are truly great, definetly the best ones on RU-vid. There are generaly too few decent videos regarding how to fly effectively in Arma, especially regarding how to use your helicopter to effectively do some damage and live to tell the tale. I think this would be the only good attack helicopter guide I've found so far, but darn was it good :P It would be nice to perhaps see how you would use a heavier helicopter aswell, like the Hellcat, Kajman, Blackfoot or something similar, since those are heavier, more sluggish and not as mobile as the little bird. I would assume that most tactics work somewhat the same, but it would still be nice to see how a more experianced pilot would use them to oblitterate their targets and again, talk you through it as well as you did in this video. Really great, keep up the good work!
I find many don't utilize the AH-9 due to the lack of survivability. Watching this video, might encourage some to experiment a little more. The major threat being guided missiles with most maps making this type of aircraft almost seemingly useless. I would like to see some high altitude bomb deployment tactics. (ie. +2,000m ;-) But so far, the bomb drops from fixed wing aircraft within ARMA 3 seem only accurate at very low altitudes. Almost seemingly too low. Your narratives are of excellent quality! You set a good example of a how a real Resume is written with your work history!
Apart from saying thanks for such a brilliant insight into your world I'd like to say thank you for bringing me my first look at Arma 3 in 4K ! : ) Blimey, it's beautiful !!! Cheers Dslyecxi !
i freaking love the littlebird, nothing like staying over an AO even after the blackfoot has been shot down by AA. "LoneGhost dont bring that over the AO it'll be a 30 second flight" -anon blackfoot pilot, he got hit by an AA missile about three minutes later XD
***** Brilliant brilliant editing! This was like watching a crazy way scene in a movie, I think you have a huge amount of ability to take your skills and apply them to film making or tv, gaming. Anything editorial really. You made all these scenes look better than most helicopter scenes from high begets movie's. Respect!
I'm always excited to see a new focus-video by you Dslyecxi. Been having too much fun with ArmA 2 at the derp squad, and hope that I'll keep playing with them, and mabye even you guys far into the future. This video was very helpful to me for learning the little bird. I always flew transport, but never was really able to have a point of refrence to hone my little bird skills, so it's awesome to see some helpful material on this subject. Thanks!
Thanks a bunch for this video, Dslyecxi. Art of Flight (and your TTP / commentary videos in general) are by far my favourites. And you've delivered once more!
Hey ! Thanks for the videos, you're the one who got me into helo flying in ArmA 2 years ago now. However, I never really practiced combat/dangerous lz situations. It would be a cool thing if you could make a more in-depth video on these evasive maneuvers you mentioned and break them up (kinda like the"Stages of landing" video ) Keep up the great work !
Arthur Vyncke If you want a good server to test this on I'd recommend a KOTH server on Arma 3 where you can buy pawnee's for cheap and people don't get as upset if they die
Thanks Dislexi great vids. The only constructive criticism I have to add is that when you perform a maneuver could you show it from a first person perspective ie. In the cockpit and also withe the 5 guages displayed. This would give us budding pilots a glimps of the speeds at which maneuver s can be accomplished successfully as well as most importantly an idea of how the throttle is being employed. Great vids though. Lov em.
Still didn't answer my question I posed like a year ago. A lot of these concepts I already employ when I am on Littlebird duty. My issue is, I have a hard time keeping the guns on target. So I try to yaw in that direction to get my nose back on target. But then the bird gets speed and the nose snaps back to the direction of motion. Is there a way to correct this? It's something that has caused a lot of annoyance.
thespartanmk1 Not dslyecxi but maybe this'll help. Once you gain too much speed you are pretty much locked on that path, targeting becomes hard. when you turn at your target practice exiting your turn so you are pointed where you want to go. But you shouldn't be going that fast though if you plan on shooting enemies. If you have trouble keeping your speed down when you are pointed slightly down to target it may be because you hold up collective too much. Many pilots always hold up collective when they are flying around but you really don't need it that much unless you are trying to gain significant speed. try flying using up collective ONLY to gain altitude and you'll realize you can gain speed and control you aircraft better without it.
all SOP for me. I don't think I am an astounding pilot, but I know how to work a littlebird. Really, it's only a real issue in slashing attacks. I think it's more just me criticising my self. It's frustrating when you need to get rounds on target and you are hitting a few meters infront or behind them.
Awesome video, Dslyecxi! Been flying the Littlebird in ARMA 2 quite frequently over the past few days and I can say this will help me greatly. You're a true inspiration and I can't wait to check out your future videos.
I'm reading Low Level Hell as you talked about it in one your previous videos and i'm loving it. And although it isn't about Little Birds i would like to recommend a book back to you. It's called Double Fighter Knight, By Finnish ace from WW2 Ilmari Juutilainen. If you can find a copy of it, i think it's worth reading
great vid dslyecxi.. i thank you for the useful tips with the small bird! the huey and small bird are my favorite two's...with grace and precision; both lots of fun and extremely exciting to fly! thumbs up!!
Beautifully put together video. Thanks for reminding me how beautiful A3 can actually look, and how crap my PC is that it doesn't look like that! :D Love your editing style though Dslyecxi, very professional and clean presentation. Keep it up!
i love flying hummingbirds in ARMA 3 :D the only time i got shot down so far was by a hidden SAM during a reconnaissance fly-by, we suspected there was an AA somewhere in an AO on Stratis but we didnt know where and if it was SAM or AAG so i was scouting and then i must have flown right above it cuz suddenly this happened: beep! beep! beep! beep! BOOM!!! basically it took 3 seconds after the first beep to get shot down D: also i was flying way above the trees, very high if someone is wondering ('w' )
Outstanding job on that guide sir! I'm starting my flight school lessons on Arma 2 ;) Too bad the Little Bird on Battlefield 3 and 4 doesn't act like a true scout / light attack heli.
My utmost gratitude and respect to you for the work you do for the community, however at 15:30 you say that autocannons are mounted on vehicles that are beyond the killing capability of an pawnee. I strongly disagree, everything but MBTs is fairly easy to kill. You need to know the position of the target, assess the situation in order to figure out the direction the gun and most likely the whole tank is facing. Next step, approach low and fast and strike the tank from behind or the sides before they realize what is happenig and get behind cover before they can turn their gun on you. Besides the MBTs and the Panther everything goes down with 9-14 rockets. I even took down Panthers and MBTs with short but precise missiles bursts into the engine, using all of the rockets. However that is not the point i am trying to make. You are wrong saying that heavier armored vehicles are next to immune to the rockets of the pawnee. I would love to take you on a ride to prove my point. It's just that i cant stand watching people not use the pawnee to its full capabilities. EVERYTHING but MBTs can be taken down with a little situational awareness and preplaning your moves... marshall, gorgon, tigris, kamysh etc. - no problem. All helis except Blackfoot, manageable. Blackfoot and jet - hard to get, but possible and with trainging very realistically possible. So i am looking forward for your tutorial on how to take down jets with pawnees and how to evade their attack angles. I am not trying to be a smartass, just trying to defend my pawnees honor. :D
Thanks for this Dslyecxi, I love flying the littlebird ingame, and this will certainly help. Also, one question. What are you using at about 8:58 in the video that shows your flight path?
***** Hey Dslyecxi, thanks so much for another great video :) After seeing that this is available in 4k I wondered if you have started playing in 4k now?
Fat Tony He is still recording in 1280×800 resolution i think. You can see upscaling artifacts in the video. The only part of the video in native resolution are the text elements which he added in Post-production.
I am just remembering a situation where I was in a Pawnee on a server just watching someone delete a small base with artillery. After a little while I died with no damage to the Pawnee. So ether a bit of shrapnel came in through the side door or someone decided to snipe me.
Hey Dslyecxi Got a few questions: 1. I noticed that you are pouring out a massive volume of fire with the miniguns, and that there is a pretty significant spread (similar to A2 2000 rpm miniguns). Do you use a mod that increases fire rate and spread, or is my fps just too low to get these kinds of results? 2. Is there a download link somewhere for the script you used to make the dotted line follow the helicopter? I would really like to use it to practice the things covered in this video. Had a third question but I forgot it :P Thanks for the great video, cheers. EDIT: remembered my question and got a new one 3. How do you film these videos? Is it just a player without a HUD? It looks really great. 4. Is there somewhere where we can download the scenarios from this video? I was especially interested in the Ag turn one. Thanks
I still say that the Littlebird/Hummingbird platform is too vulnerable to be worth much. I mean, when even the best pilots can be shot out of their seat by a rifleman they didn't see or account for, that speaks of some seriously elevated risk levels above and beyond the norm in a combat zone. I can see the attraction and why some may enjoy it, but you'd never catch me flying it. #Footslogger4Lyfe
Dslyecxi I recently discovered a mod for arma 3 called "speed of sound" it's a really cool sound mod that makes the game sound much better. just seeing if you knew about this but I found it really cool I suggest it thanks
patq911 if you watching youtube videos in 4k the only benefit you are getting is a higher bitrate but at the cost of over 4x more video that you need to download thats why it takes time to load
i hate to spam comments but i noticed you did not say anything about how to dodge missiles while flying in a littlebird, and it seems you are implying that if you have one flying towards you, there is nothing possible to do. i personally find that immediately changing my course to be perpendicular to the missile and holding this until the incoming missile is less than a kilometer away, then i pull a hard turn and dive towards the missile (not directly towards it, but turning to the side it is now approaching from) i find this works fairly well and have been able to survive times where 8+ missiles have been fired at my littlebird in a span of about 5 minutes.
Great video, Dslyecxi. I noticed that there was a lot of dispersion in your minigun's rounds when you fired, as there was in Arma 2. But if I remember correctly, Arma 3's miniguns still show no such dispersion. Is it possible that this is part of the upcoming Helicopter DLC?
Would you have any specific advice for heavier gunships, like Cobras, Hinds, and Apaches? Those obviously have a lot of behavior and role differences, and there are things you can't do in a gunship like you can in a Littlebird. Thanks.
Dslecxi will you be making a similar video to this one on attack helicopters, gunships or whatever you want to call them. A simple yes or know will do :)
Dslyecxi, in one of your earlier tuts you were saying that you use a CH pro rudder peddles for flight, I was wondering if my logi G27 peddles could be used in the same fashion?
How do you get the different camera angles of the same event? Are they just recreated with unitplay or is there some other script involved? Assuming it isn't another player, in which case it's operated by them
I think it's a bit silly, I'd rather they have basic countermeasures. The whole missile aspect of Arma in general has always been fairly basic, definitely an avenue for overall improvement.
That is my outlook as well. In default Arma 3 the WY-55 Hellcat is a much better all around platform, with countermeasures, the same armament, a HUD, and the ability to carry 6 people. It's interesting how much of a death trap the AH-9 becomes when there is any type of AA missile on the field, and this means it's only able to be effective in missions designed with it in mind.
How does one achieve such incredible camera shots? I have a little knowledge of camera scripting but I am still dumbfounded as to how you make these episodes. Any tips anyone?
I still don't understand why my tracer rounds from the M134's are not as good as yours. Yours in this vid come out with every shot as a tracer round and mine is every other. Can you help??? Btw great vid!
