Just how hard is this to fly? - thinking of buying it.

[TAW_RiEvEr]

BUT I tried the R44(?) chopper in FSX and just crashed it again and again in the tutorial, it seemed too twitchy and the throttle didn't work right.

I'd love to learn to fly a chopper but if that first tutorial in FSX is representative of this game too, I won't bother :D

I already have ArmA2 and expansions, so realise BI normally do a good job of things, but like I said - if it really is that hard to make a helicopter fly where you want it to, I will give it a miss. Game looks brilliant, but dead weight on my HD wouldn't impress me. :)

NoCents is the chopper king at TAW so I've never needed to be able to fly one, just target the weapons :yay:

[MadDogX]

The flight model definitely can't be compared with the one from Arma2. If you want to buy this game, be prepared to spend a while learning it from the ground up.

The learning curve is okay though. I'm a fairly good pilot in Arma2, but it took me about a week before I could fly relatively safely in trainee mode, and I've now only just got the hang of expert mode. (Landings are generally the hardest.)

[twisted]

it's easy to fly for fun. autotrim helps without being a crutch.

with autotrim off it is much trickier. as it should be so there's a learning curve which adds to the challenge/immersion. but i understand that the current drift when collective up/down is greater than it should be. pedals seem to be essential for real control with autotrim off.

[TAW_RiEvEr]

Sounds pretty playable then, thank you.

Pre-ordered. ;)

[Neurosys]

I deliberated over this for a long time as well.
I flew Arma2 with sometimes my Saitek X52 (sadly no pedals, but twist works for yaw) and more often with a Logitech gamepad (easier setup), I found this games flight to be very similar, but I can tell its not just the same old thing because it feels much more realistic. Like I am certain I am feeling wind currents and other anomalies become perceptible when pushing the aircraft too hard or too fast and I dont remember those feelings being in Arma games. I love it when a game kind of pushes me back to make me realize "hey buddy, this isnt some arcade thing, keep doing that and youre history". I'm altogethor pleased with this purchase so far and really looking forward to the career mode.

BI has done a good job. I feel like I can throw away the idea of MS Flight Sims soon, as they seem to be taking over the genre quite effectively. Arma was great and all, but I hope they keep making all sorts of sims, they clearly have a better understanding of what makes a good simulation experience than many developers of so called simulations. Eagerly awaiting Carrier Command :)

[TAW_RiEvEr]

Well, just did the first tutorial after figuring out how to set my controller up properly and it's harder than flying a plane. I can land a Cessna almost anywhere - crashed on landing with this chopper though and got it down on the retry.

I found it very tricky getting it over the top of the Helipad for the landing. I am struggling to get my head round how I make it stop going forward where I need it to be. Pull back on the cyclic and I start going backwards - hehe.

I'll get to grips with it. I remember struggling this much learning to land small planes, and even more so on the virtual flights with IL-2 (Thanks, Joint Ops Flight School for sorting me out!) and similarly on Rise of Flight. I find virtual flying and driving much harder than the real thing because I don't feel anything in my inner ear or the seat of my pants!

[Max Power]

In the meantime, press spacebar for autohover if you just want to get on with the mission. Landing skills will come with time (I hope, I also crash land quite a bit, especially in a cross wind).

[wildone_106]

If DCS Black Shark is a 10, and FSX is 1, I'd rate his at 2 or 3 on the difficulty scale. Very easy as it currently stands.

[BeePee]

You say that flying Black Shark is 5 times harder than flying "Medium" i TKoH? Maybe managing all BS systems is, there's a lot of buttons, but actual flight is easier in BS. Of course I mean expert diff in TKoH. Using your scale I would say:
FSX - 1
TKoH - 2 (beginner, autotrim on, with autohover)
TKoH - 4 (trainee, autotrim on)
BS - 10
TKoH - 12 (expert, autotrim off, without autohover)

So, Take on can be piece of cake and can be quite a challenge. All depends on your preferences and difficulty settings.

[TAW_RiEvEr]

I, for one, totally appreciate the inclusion of AutoHover in the game/sim :)

It got me out of the poop a few times in the beta - great feature. I am finding it to be a very useful 'crutch' as I learn to fly choppers after years of fixed wing experience.
When I realise that I have fouled things up badly and the chopper's attitude is about to spin out of control, being able to tap that spacebar and sit back to figure out what I did wrong is terrific!

Looking forward to live launch tomorrow.