domingomontoya

I've spent the last couple weeks playing with this in a Blackfoot and just when I think I have something figured out, it doesn't work any more. I think I've been trolled by random limited success, and I mean _random_. I've used an auto repeat on countermeasures to spam them and had 40 AA infantry firing at me from the same location. I evaded ~25 missiles head on, straight and level, and the second I ran out of flares the missiles started slamming into me. I've had success deploying counters as soon as the missile launched, while maintaining level flight. I've had success deploying counters, dropping collective, and pitching down at the last second. By success I mean numerous consecutive misses, >5 in a row, flying over groups of AA infantry, or flying into a cluster of them. By limited I mean that a method might work perfectly 5 times in a row, then not work worth a crap. I have tried so many different methods and I can't say what _does_ work [because I think it's mostly random], but I can tell you that maneuvering doesn't seem to play into it at all. In fact, I think it slows you down and makes you easier for the missile to hit. I've had much better reproducible results just flying straight and level while deploying as many flares as you can before the missile hits you. This includes during lock on. I've also had luck evading missiles by using counters only prior to firing. As I fly with advanced flight, being straight and level with about 50% collective has the added benefit of being set up for auto-rotation in the event of a hit. With advanced on, in a Blackfoot, being at full collective and pitched forward when you lose engine power [at less than 300m] pretty much guarantees you're going to lose rotor RPM in a second. So, currently, I pop CM's during lock on, then [depending on distance] pop immediately on launch, then again right before the missile strikes. I also drop to 0 collective for that last one, in case I get hit, I'm already in auto-rotation.

First, I'm kind of thinking the stealth of the Blackfoot is forgotten in game. It seems like AA missiles have no more problem locking on to it [with composite body, stealth angles, and exhaust through tail rotor] than they do any other heli. Oddly enough, 8 AA missiles from 2 Blackfoots failed to down a single high-flying Kajman for me last night. :-/ This leads me to the other issue with the Blackfoot: The Commanche that the Blackfoot is designed after was never meant to be a heavy attack heli, although it allegedly could have been equipped with Hellfire missiles, its primary tasking was for recon. Hellfire missiles sure would be nice in ArmA. In ArmA, the US forces need a legit gunship to compete with the awesome firepower of the Kajman, which is the tank killer that the AH-1Z or AH-64D is IRL. I know that there are mods which supply these attack choppers, but that doesn't help standard ArmA games/missions, which currently have what I consider to be a large and unrealistic imbalance between the Blackfoot and Kajman. Plus, the modded versions don't support Rotorlib, which I absolutely love flying with, and I think offers far better control when you invest the time to learn it. Either the AH-1Z or the AH-64D, or both, would be nice. They're basically the same thing now anyway, as the AH-1Z and AH-64D both have Longbow avionics targeting, and radar, use the same engines, and the 1Z has extended wings to carry more munitions. It kind of stinks that we took a step back in Heli firepower for the US side and beefed up the opfor in comparison to ArmA 2.

I'm pretty sure that dead zone in the throttle is in the electronics. It's mostly unnoticeable. I modded mine by grinding the tab off, polishing it smooth with a dremel, then greasing with dielectric grease (automotive spark plug stuff - don't use lithium or petrolium lubes on plastic). What irritates me more with mine is that the cyclic stick has a cam feeling about 75% off center in every direction. So, it moves nice and easy for 75% of its range, then you have to muscle it a bit harder over the "hump".

I've had this problem since I can remember. I have had two different sticks; A logitech and a thrustmaster. Windows 8, Windows 8.1, USB3 or 2, with and without TrackIR. This happens only when accessing controller settings. It never happens out of the blue, or when accessing other game settings such as video, game, audio. It's worse for me when I'm in multiplayer, especially when the only apparent fix is to exit and reload the game.