Battlefield 1942/Desert Combat 0.7/Helos flying

So, you've taken fancy to that helicopter just sitting there. Out in the open. Waiting... No... You didn't have these in plain ol' BF1942. They're not just merely waiting, they're beckoning! Yeah, beckoning for you to hop in and give it a whirl.

But what happens? You hop in, and find your self spinning in the whirling self destructing propelled coffin of doom! What an embarassment to your team! Oh noes! What a newb moment! Not to mention the disgust of others that could have made perfectly good use of that helo you just wrecked. sigh.

Have no fear, this guide is here! (Why else would it be?) I'll present the known principles and methods of flying a helicopter in BF1942 DC mod.

Basic principles of operation

 * Cyclic: This is controlled by the throttle. More or less it's the amount of thrust you have available to split between lift and directional travel.
 * Collective: This controls the tilt of the main rotor. So you pitch forward/back and roll left/right.
 * Anticyclic/antitorque: This controls the pitch of the tail rotor, which counters the torque of the main rotor. It controls yaw similar to the rudder on a fixed wing aircraft.

So how do you fly knowing this. First you apply enough thrust to get in the air. Then when you're up high enough, you reduce thrust such until it is merely enough to counter the pull of gravity. When the two are equal, you're hovering. But now you push the collective to go forward. This tilts the main rotor such that your thrust is now vectored backward by some amount. The backward portion of thrust is subtracted from the downwards portion, so now in addition to going forward your descending again thanks to gravity. To counter gravity you increase throttle again. The faster you go, the more throttle you will need. And vice versa. And not only does this apply to forward/back, but with side to side. As you can see it's quite a balancing act. No wonder why it seems so intimidating.

Training tips
When first training on a helicopter I suggest creating your own LAN game, non-coop. You're alone, nobody is shooting at you, and you're not going to aggrivate anyone by losing tickets or wasting what might be limited equipment.

As for which helicopter to train on? I suggest the AH-64 Apache. It's gear are sprung and more forgiving towards harsh landings than the fixed gear on other models. It also handles at a happy medium. It's not spry and twitchy as the AH-6 Little Bird, nor is it unresponsive as a lumbering bloated pig like the CH-53 or MH-60.

Methods to the madness
The controls available to fly are probably by no means ideal, but they're definitely workable. Word to the wise, do not use the mouse. Unless you like tormenting yourself. Most people don't. A mouse is barely adequate for airplanes in BF1942 (Lift & drag, lift & drag, ugh it gets old fast!), what makes you think it'll even work with helicopters?

One thing to note with the helicopters, the inputs don't directly relate to the response like fixed wing aircraft. Rather, it's more or less that they control the rate of change. Stay forward on the stick and you'll pitch forward. But now your going forward faster and descending faster every second. It adds up. Push harder, and this rate of change occurs faster. It's similar with yaw. Tap the anticyclic right to turn. You'll keep going round and round until you tap the anticyclic left to stop turning. If you were to stay on it, you'll only find yourself spinning faster and faster. Capice? Ok? Good. Once you understand that, you'll be a bit ahead of the game compared to other helo newbs.

Full Stick: This entails that you are one of the lucky few with a separate throttle control, rudder pedals on the floor and all that goodness. Use the throttle to get it up there. Tone it down gradually while pitcing forward, all while maintaining the balancing act. You'll probably figure it out quick enough, since your method is closest to seat of the pants experience as a player can get.

Stick and keyboard: This is the particular method that I know best. It allows you to overcome the limitations of a budget joystick. So if your joystick has a throttle on the base where it is difficult to constantly adjust and possibly no rudder (twist) input - this will overcome those hurdles. The very first thing you do if you plan on flying helos is set your joystick's throttle for neutral lift. This will provide the amount of thrust needed to counter gravity and maintain a hover while not moving in any particular horizontal direction. Start with the joystick throttle at the bottom (negative), then turn it up slowly. Keep increasing it until the helicopter just starts lifting off. Once it starts going up, throttle down a notch so that it doesn't go up. The helicopter should drift or bounce a little in response to other inputs. At this stage, your stick should be throttled for neutral lift. So why is this good? It'll let you coast. Now that the stick is set - all your throttling from now on is via the keyboard. Use the stick to steady the helo, press and hold W (default forward). The helicopter should leap into the sky. Once you're up high enough. Let go. Provided you're not going forward the helicopters climb should slow down (Momentum may still carry it a bit.) Now hit S. The climbing should stop and you'll hover. Press and hold S briefly. You should be descending. Hit W a few times. That should be able to slow you down for a landing. (May take some practice still.) Once back on the ground, press and hold S. That'll keep you firmly seated on terra firma without wobbling until you decide to go back up in the air or exit the vehicle. Turning a bit? Note that A & D convieniently control the anticyclic. Without the throttle neutral trick, you're likely to be going nuts on a stick. You're either climbing way too fast or you're dropping like a stone. With throttle neutral, you just hit W or S depending on what thrust you need. Not to mention that you can coast from forward flight to a hover without even messing with the throttle.

Straight up keyboard: I've heard someone call this the woodpecker technique because of the mad tapping of keys. I'm apt to believe it, since with the keyboard it's all or nothing. No finesse available. So to moderate things, it's like a pulse/dwell cycle. Hold W to go up. Tap W to hover. Let go and fall like a stone. Tap or hold S and fall even faster. Mouse is useless if not dangerous, so pitch/roll is done via tapping/holding the arrow keys. And of course like before, A & D control yaw. So if you're without a stick and desparate to fly, it just might work for you.