Someone

If there is some room for me, I'll gladly fly some. There's always room for some improvement

I honestly didn't have much of a problem with the way the ambush of "Operation Mike" turned out. Sure, it looked fishy on the playback and stream sniping may ruin the "surprise" part of it for some of the players, but it's the same with the regular missions. You're always going to have these issues, you cannot stop people from stream sniping. There are always a few suspicious stream snipers, people who seem to have intel which they shouldn't have, but that intel is usually hidden by huge amounts of bad/incorrect intel. Stream sniping is bad, the people doing it are ruining the most fun part of what a zeus mission is for themselves, and that's the fact that you have no idea what's coming. As someone who doesn't stream snipe, it's very difficult to tell the "good" and the "bad" intel apart. Generally, while on the ground you have very little to no knowledge of what's going on, where the other squads are, how they're planning to engage, how the mission looks etc. We generally have far less intel than you as a Zeus presume we do. Sometimes you're frustrated on stream because we're not playing the mission the way you originally intend the mission to be played and almost all of those times that can be tracked back to the troops not having any idea of what's going on. It's the same with these road blocks. I was flying troops around during OP mike and I had no idea where the ambushes were. On several occasions the markers were completely wrong. Sure, someone might have stream sniped and thus broken the immersion for themselves, but me personally didn't suffer too much from it. I'd personally rather have these well planned ambushes, as in OP Mike, rather than something which you're forced to build on the fly. The ambush played out well from our perspective and even though the surprise of the ambush may have been compromised it was still a really nice addon to the gameplay. Instead of trying to hide these ambushes from stream snipes and thus creating less planned ambushes, perhaps change tactic and make them rely less on the "surprise" part? Create heavier roadblocks instead, give the AI some mounted guns, or even some lighter armor. Make sure that the AI is capable of fighting back, give them the power to completely stop a convoy in their tracks. This ofc means that the vehicle we have to guard will need to be heavier armored, as it's likely to take heavier fire, but at least it doesn't leave these ambushes useless.

Usually typing to an admin on TS will resolve such things within seconds. We're generally a friendly community, but every once in a while you will find a rotten egg or two. If you're obviously not doing your job, someone may ask you to give up your slot for another, but there is no reason to be a complete dick as these guys appear to have been.

I will be there

I can't help but seeing the date while reading this, but honestly don't think the idea in itself is bad. Currency might be incredibly difficult to implement properly, but if done correctly it should add some value to your life.

I just want to give a heads-up, it's 2016-04-01 today.

I would say that it worked rather well the way it was implemented. The amount of shouldered AA may have been somewhat high and the fact that most AI spawned in a very small area was annoying, but other than that it worked really well. I liked how it changed the gameplay, how it forced you to be on your toes at the end of the mission But yeah, patience is key

To be fair, neither flying nor landing a damaged helicopter is really that hard once you've done it a few times. It's actually quite simple - get some speed and then proceed and fly like you always do. If your anti torque is completely out, try and get away from immediate danger, then try and gain some speed. To gain speed, tilt your helicopter in any given direction. Keep full collective up while doing this (you'll lose height) and keep tilting your helicopter until you gain speed in any given direction. Once you've gained some speed your helicopter will stabilize and you can fly it back almost as you would had you had an anti torque. Once landing, try and remember that you've lost your anti torque - fly accordingly. You know that your helicopter will pull itself in one direction, so you'll need to slightly tilt the helicopter on approach. Usually you should be doing this anyways, but balande the helicopter with the anti torque, now you're balancing the helicopter with its tilt instead. It's basically like a normal landing, with some extra focus needed from your part. Once your helicopter is almost still, you may touch down. You can do some smaller adjustments before touching down, but should know that without anti torque, the helicopter will spin. If you do that, 9/10 times the helicopter won't have any fuel left. If you get downed, you usually need to repair it within seconds or live with the fact that it'll be grounded from now on. Or have they already implemented the fuel thing that should be added in with the 01.04.16 rules? Haven't been able to play in a while - school has been.. interesting..

Potato squad is more or less a group of players who got tiered of the lack of communication and teamwork and thus began playing together. We're usually on TS (locked channel), but as long as there is room and you're a serious player you shouldn't have much issues getting an invite, at least not if we know your name. If there's already too many in that group though, you may have to wait - it's almost impossible to play and communicate once the group gets too big, hence the lock on TS.

The hummingbird is the easiest helicopter to maneuver, but also one which is the more difficult to properly implement. The strength of the hummingbird is its high maneuverability, low weight and small size. You can fly it really aggressively, using it's small size and maneuverability to push deeper into AO:s than any other helicopter, simply because you're such a small target, capable of flying low which gives you really short exposure times to enemy troops. You're incredibly fragile, but as long as you're behind hard cover none of that matter. It is the easiest helicopter to fly - but one of the more difficult helicopters to fully utilize. I do recommend flying it, but I wouldn't say that it's something you should stick with for too long. Fly it, get comfortable with flying and landing, then try and change it for a ghosthawk or a mohawk. Learn to fly the heavier helicopters, how to properly plan and approach LZs. Once you're feeling that you know how to handle those bigger helicopters, once you can approach LZs and land close, without taking fire - change back to the hummingbird. All of a sudden you'll feel the power of the hummingbird. You can do things with it, which the heavier helicopters simply cannot, and you will begin flying it to its full potential.

Did a quick convertion 4 PM EST = 21PM GMT So that should be 21PM for people from Britain 22PM for Sweden/Denmark/Norway/Germany 23PM for Finland etc. Seems like a decent time to begin an event at.

Any idea of an "approximate" when?

It feel as if you're sending out double messages. I do agree, pilots are one of, if not the most important role on an I&A server and many pilots do not fly the helicopters the way they are intended to be flown. You often die when you get into a helicopter with a random, unknown pilot, and it shouldn't be like that. It's usually a combination of lack of skill, and cooperation which causes this, as people on the ground generally think the pilots are the only ones responsible for keeping the air clean of jets and making sure that the troops gets from point A to point B safe and secure. We say that we want more skilled and experienced pilots, but at the same time we want to be an open and easily accessible community. There was a suggestion in a thread earlier where Extra suggested that we could give known and experienced pilots a mark/badge or whatever to show that they are competent pilots. The purpose was to make it easier for people to pick a more reliable pilot to fly with, to lessen the frustration and respawnrates of the troops. The idea swiftly got shot down with the motivation that we're not a milsim. These servers are supposed to be accessible and we neither want people to feel excluded nor scare them away from trying new roles. Almost everyone was unanimous, this wasn't the way people wanted the server to go. Mere 4 days later, this post, with its new set of rules is posted. You're saying that people are misusing aircrafts, landing too close, abandoning vehicles, that they should not fly unless they know how to auto rotate and/or land a helicopter in a narrow space without an antitorque etc. You're saying that the pilots do not value their helicopters, that they put them at risk and when it downs and then rather blow it up than actually repair it. I do agree with this to some extent. It is a shame that you as of today need to satchel a helicopter once you're downed. There are a few problems with makes this nessesary. The first problem is fuel, a problem which you say you will adress. It isn't often that you actually do carry a repair guy once you do go down, but the times you do the helicopter most likely won't have any fuel left by the time he's done repairing it. Sure, you may solve this, I've seen it done on other servers before in such a way that helicopters gain a few percent fuel once repaired, so I don't why why we can't have that here, but that is not the only issue. You rarely have repair guys in you helicopter, and usually those slots are left empty. If you down your helicopter, you may be far from an AO (often you are), and taking a repair vehicle there would often take a tremendous amount of time, even with something you can airlift in with another helicopter. If you down too close to the AO you either need to drive there, or make sure that you have a competent repair guy, willing to help. If you try and fly there with a repair vehicle, you will most likely lose another helicopter, leaving you with even less helicopters for transportation. The helicopters would have a lot of downtime, and people already complain if there isn't a helicopter on the helipad the second they respawn. The average random player has the patience and attention span of a five-year-old and you often see they beginning to mess around once they get tiered of waiting. Some of these rules could be, but not on a server like this. The rules you're suggesting require way more disciplin, cooperation and communication than I've ever seen on EU 1 and 2. In the same way a writer has to adapt his style of writing to his readers, the server rules must be adapted to the player base. You can go ahead, you can give these rules a try, but I won't be flying with them. All i see in these rules are a recipe for disaster. All I see is a server where piloting becomes more dull and boring, a server where people will have to walk for several kilometers because pilots are too tiered to wait for their repairs, or too tiered to actually return to and repair their downed helicopters. I imagine a scenario where helicopters will be left behind a scenario where people will take new helicopters rather than repairing the ones they use right now. People already do it. There are broken helicopters left at helipads or at old AOs almost all the time. The admins simply cannot keep track of it and the players don't even know where these helicopters are located. What's suggested would require even more babysitting by admins, and even with an admin constantly watching, I cannot even Imagine a scenario where this will work as intended, not with the current player base. No, I do not like this idea the slightest. I think we're approaching this from a completely wrong angle. The problem isn't with the rules, the problem is the pilots. We do have a large amount of more than capable pilots, but they're often not the ones actually flying the helicopters. The pilot slots are very popular, they're often taken. People want to fly, they want to practice. Most of these pilots aren't the ones flying the way you seem to want them to fly, most of them are rookies trying their wings. A suggestion to make sure that you have at least a few decent pilots on the server would be to take another look at Extras suggestion. I'd rather suggest that you white list 3 of the 5 pilot slots. Have 2 of the slots open for new players, to let them try their wings, but lock 3 of them. Have the top 3 slots only allowing more experienced pilots into them, pilots which you know are capable, pilots which have proven them self through tryouts and/or recommendations. Having one or two bad pilots isn't really a problem, as long as the other 3 are capable enough things will flow smoothly.

There is lot to be said here, things I don't have time to say now. I will try and return to this thread later today, tomorrow or whenever possible. I consider myself a quite capable pilot, but this will still affect me alot. If this is implemented the way it's suggested I most likely won't ever fly on these servers again. Before making such a huge change, I at least advice you to try and talk and listen to some of the regular pilots.

Performance, performance, performance. I do not care what content they put in, I do not care about which weapons I get or which features they decide to have in it. Performance.

I think you should be more careful with your use of mortar/artillery. I don't mind it being used (quite the opposite accually), but sometimes the mortar rounds seem to land too close, too soon, and you can't really counter it - you have to move. If you come in with a helicopter and the enemy don't have eyes on you, they shouldn't fire. Unless the players have engaged the base, or the base has obviously spotted a group, the mortar shouldn't engage. A few days ago, we landed a helicopter on the foot of a hill, opposite side from visual of the enemies. First mortars landed about 20 seconds after the troops were dropped off, and I died and got revived 3 times, without even showing myself to the base. I don't mind hills being engaged, but don't use the mortar on troops unless you've got eyes on them, and don't zero in perfectly from the get go. Fire the mortar once, adjust and eventually zero in on them. If they troops are too stationary they'll die. Within 2-3 shots the mortars should have zeroed in on the guys, and then a direct mortar strike is justified.

I always predesignate several LZs. It is alot more safe to mark off areas which should be safe before you accually approach the area. I mark presesignated LZs in black, and LZ:s which I know are safe or at least have been safe earlier are marked with the color, usually Blue or Green. Even if the LZ isn't checked by UAV prior to landing, even if you have zero intel, you can usually give the approach an attempt. If you've checked an LZ and approach route in beforehand, you can swiftly break off (eventuallt flare/dodge) and then go for another LZ. If you've done your markings correctly, you can simply return behind some hard cover, something which blocks both visuals and fire and after that swiftly fall back to your secondary or third LZ option. I'd rather do the thinking before I accually aproach the area, so that I can focus 100% on flying while being at a potentially hot LZ. Some people tend to remove markers and say "do not mark LZs unless you know where the enemis are", and they usually fuck things up by doing so. A good pilot always have a backup LZ, and people removing the markers force the pilots to re-locate their secondary LZs if their first LZ approach fails. This takes time from the pilots, and you don't want the pilot to spend too much time in the map while being close to a hot AO, especially not while taking fire. This doesn't mean that I can't change my mind and go for a completly different LZ if i find one, it just mean that you've got a plan in case all else fail.

These are the music I tend to listen to while playing. General rock-ish music https://open.spotify.com/user/mackan072/playlist/7aLp5erXz9UoeKWSVZOwqV https://open.spotify.com/user/mackan072/playlist/3TouthtoC1kJ776TMjjCA1 Heavier instrumental (mainly two steps from hell) - Perfect for battle https://open.spotify.com/user/mackan072/playlist/6PQlu5NP5MjPTLkB3ZsAkD

I honestly think hosting some flying lessons sometime soon would be a good idea, if people dared to attend to it. There's been a few questions on flying in the forums lately, some people seem to be curious about flying.

I'll apply for Vortex Squad Lead if needed, otherwise transport. Either way is fine by me

Some people always question rules, no matter what server you're playing on. They will say that something either is or isn't allowed in the rules, and once you ask where it's stated they simply say "go and read the rules". It's way erasier to accually point a person to a specific rule, if they're numbered. Yes, everyone should have read the rules, but even if you have read them, it's easy to forget the details. Being able to point toweards a specific rule, and have the person read that through again, that usually helps

The only issue I have with no sidechat is that some people don't realize that not everyone can see their markers. People often tell you to go to "this marker" or "that marker" and you simply cannot see it. It isn't a big deal, as you just have to tell them that you don't have the marker, but it happens very often.

That is horrible when you're buissy doing things. I usually fly the hummingbird (if possible), and you simply cannot fly low and safe and at the same time keep an constant eye on the chat. If you lose focus for a second too long, you've either hit a tree, a hill or a powerline. You're usually already buissy enough with looking at the map (a few seconds at the time) and trying to find a good LZ and approach, while at the same time talking to the crew. We had a Zeus mission in which we were supposed to strike at several bases, and keep them. During that mission we pilots had to be everywhere at the same time, had to keep an konstant eye on the chat and be on constant standby to move troops and drop supplies. The only reson why we accually managed to coordinate that was because all pilots were on TS. If you noticed that some guys needed a pilot while you were buissy doing something else, you could simply give the task to someone else.

@Shorts That's weird, I usually have alot more to do during Zeus missions. Troops need to be placed more carefully and some squads ask for really intense approaches. I cannot say that I havn't played in boring Zeus missions, with little to no use of pilots (because I have), but generally there is alot more that has to be done and thought of. I remember one of Luetins missions, it was a dive based one. No use for helicopters when the troops have to stealth their way in to a base. They had to approach via the water, in boats, subs or by swimming. I spent at least an hour straight simply waiting during that mission, but that is a really rare experience. I do agree, I would love it if they implemented pilots more, but I don't really see how. A CAS jet could be added, but they often ruin the fun for the guys on the ground and also easily fails missions. Vortex is mainly transportation, but how would you utilize that more than we already do? Lift things out with the Huron?

So, you eventually fell for the peer pressure? (welcome)