OH-58D Kiowa Warrior Suggestions

[sir_quacksalot]

Alright so here is an actual constructive suggestion for anyone. This mod is designed to be realistic yes? Besides me being pissed off about the Co-op bot locked stuff (Which I will be until I can fly the Kiowa in Co-op), I have a suggestion for the Kiowa.

I don't know how many people actually know this but the Kiowa can actually mount 4 different weapon systems. .50 cal, 2.75 in. Rockets (7 tubes), Hellfire (2 rails), Stingers (2 rails). We don't use Stingers anymore because there wasn't any need for them but we do use Hellfires. Since the two maps that have them also have two Kiowa's perhaps making one of the birds HF/Rkt would be extremely awesome. One hellfire missle per bird and 7 rkts wouldn't really unbalance the game I don't think. The Kiowa was only armed for defense and targets of opportunity. It's not an attack helicopter after all.

I would love to see pilots shooting M4 out the door too but they're never going to do that (FYI that is actually implemented in real life and is an effective weapon system ask a Kiowa Pilot).

Next, just for anyone's information most Kiowa's no longer use the M296 .50 Cal machine gun. In the past three years we've moved to the M3P .50 Cal machine gun. I was actually in the first unit to test field the M3P.

Also, and this is purely cosmetic, there is no HF antenna mounted below the tail and hasn't been for probably 10+ years now. They also don't use flares yet but that would just mess with game mechanics.

Oh and some units are fielded with HE .50 cal ammo too. Not just a 30MM exclusive thing. 1m kill zone FTW.

[Rhino]

Hey quacksalot, are you "fifty-eight.50" on the BSS forums? If so nice to see you again and cheers for thous refs of the kiowa you sent

Originally Posted by sir_quacksalot

I don't know how many people actually know this but the Kiowa can actually mount 4 different weapon systems. .50 cal, 2.75 in. Rockets (7 tubes), Hellfire (2 rails), Stingers (2 rails). We don't use Stingers anymore because there wasn't any need for them but we do use Hellfires. Since the two maps that have them also have two Kiowa's perhaps making one of the birds HF/Rkt would be extremely awesome. One hellfire missle per bird and 7 rkts wouldn't really unbalance the game I don't think. The Kiowa was only armed for defense and targets of opportunity. It's not an attack helicopter after all.

Ye we are aware of this, the Hellfire rack we do not currently have but its in our long term design plan to make, but right now there is no real need for it as its mainly an AT missile.

Originally Posted by sir_quacksalot

I would love to see pilots shooting M4 out the door too but they're never going to do that (FYI that is actually implemented in real life and is an effective weapon system ask a Kiowa Pilot).

Its no possible to have the co-pilot be able to use the FLIR and be able to shoot a handheld weapon out of the door in the same player position in BF2.

Originally Posted by sir_quacksalot

Next, just for anyone's information most Kiowa's no longer use the M296 .50 Cal machine gun. In the past three years we've moved to the M3P .50 Cal machine gun. I was actually in the first unit to test field the M3P.

Also, and this is purely cosmetic, there is no HF antenna mounted below the tail and hasn't been for probably 10+ years now. They also don't use flares yet but that would just mess with game mechanics.

Ye we are aware of this, USI made the model and USI is set back in the first gulf war, so the HMG and other details are realistic for it, we just finished up the cockpit textures and exported it for them. We may tweak it a little more in time but its very low priority since its really just cosmetic.

Originally Posted by sir_quacksalot

Oh and some units are fielded with HE .50 cal ammo too. Not just a 30MM exclusive thing. 1m kill zone FTW.

Cool, didn't know that

[Jaymz]

Originally Posted by sir_quacksalot

I don't know how many people actually know this but the Kiowa can actually mount 4 different weapon systems. .50 cal, 2.75 in. Rockets (7 tubes), Hellfire (2 rails), Stingers (2 rails). We don't use Stingers anymore because there wasn't any need for them but we do use Hellfires. Since the two maps that have them also have two Kiowa's perhaps making one of the birds HF/Rkt would be extremely awesome. One hellfire missle per bird and 7 rkts wouldn't really unbalance the game I don't think. The Kiowa was only armed for defense and targets of opportunity. It's not an attack helicopter after all.

Yeah we're aware of all the different loadouts. Just haven't gotten around to making all the variants yet. So for now it's either 50cal + 1 rocket pod or 2 x rocket pods. More variants possibly in the future.

Originally Posted by sir_quacksalot

I would love to see pilots shooting M4 out the door too but they're never going to do that (FYI that is actually implemented in real life and is an effective weapon system ask a Kiowa Pilot).

We were actually going to make this a feature! No joke. But the problem is, we can't have the co-pilot able to use both an M4 and operate the FLIR dome in the same seat . We did really want to do this for the record.....just wasn't possible without sacrificing the FLIR/Lasing abilities.

Originally Posted by sir_quacksalot

Next, just for anyone's information most Kiowa's no longer use the M296 .50 Cal machine gun. In the past three years we've moved to the M3P .50 Cal machine gun. I was actually in the first unit to test field the M3P.

Also, and this is purely cosmetic, there is no HF antenna mounted below the tail and hasn't been for probably 10+ years now.

The model was initially intended for USI I believe, hence the older M296 and the antenna.

Originally Posted by sir_quacksalot

They also don't use flares yet but that would just mess with game mechanics.

Our adviser mentioned this but it'll have to wait until we can model how the passive IR jammer works.

Originally Posted by sir_quacksalot

Oh and some units are fielded with HE .50 cal ammo too. Not just a 30MM exclusive thing. 1m kill zone FTW.

Is there a source for this online? Just interested

[sir_quacksalot]

The cockpit is spot on and I love it. You have no idea how happy I was when i saw the trailer and saw a 58 bumping on some dudes. As far as the Hellfire Rack goes all you have to do is cut the Apache rail in half and you would have exactly what is used on the real deal. And no I'm not the fifty-eight.50. I'm just a very happy (slightly disgruntled until you fix Karbala co-op) 58 Crew Chief. What do you use as far as models for adding things to the game file format wise?

[Rhino]

Originally Posted by sir_quacksalot

The cockpit is spot on and I love it. You have no idea how happy I was when i saw the trailer and saw a 58 bumping on some dudes. As far as the Hellfire Rack goes all you have to do is cut the Apache rail in half and you would have exactly what is used on the real deal. And no I'm not the fifty-eight.50. I'm just a very happy (slightly disgruntled until you fix Karbala co-op) 58 Crew Chief. What do you use as far as models for adding things to the game file format wise?

Cool ye, fifty-eight.50 who is also a Kiowa pilot sent me a load of refs for the cockpit which I fixed up and then [R-DEV]Pride textured (although it still needs a bit more work, we didn't have time to finish it for .95 ).

Didn't know the hellfire rack is the same as the Apache rail, will have to look into that one to see if we can use that model, cheers

We do our modelling in 3D Studio Max 9, so the file format is ".max"

[sir_quacksalot]

Just make sure that you cut out the bottom 2 rails. That is all that is different from the Apache Hellfire Rail and the Kiowa.

[Alex6714]

Regarding the targeting/hud, does the pilot have a system similar to the Apaches helmet sight? Are there any references that dont breach security of this?

Also, am I right in thinking that you cannot fire the .50 and the RKT, or whatever alternate weapon at the same time/simultaneously? That you have to arm the weapon individually.

[sir_quacksalot]

For the targeting hud since I can't go in and look at the screen in multiplayer anymore without someone else flying I assume I can't say as to what yours looks like but no the Kiowa is completely different from the Apache targeting system. The Kiowa basically uses to hat switch type button to slew the MMS (Mast Mounted Sight , i.e. the ball on the rotors) and the copilot lases and tracks targets that way. There is no crazy helmet tracking system. The OH-58D Kiowa Warrior is an armed version of a helicopter that has been around since the 60's. The systems are really old but they do still have thermal and TV sights on them. As for the weapons systems, yes you can fire them simultaneously to my knowledge. One tactic pilots often use is to guide in rockets with the .50 cal so they will be more accurate with their fire. On the real Kiowa there is no HUD sight system. It's all eye balls and grease pencil cross-hairs.

[sir_quacksalot]

Well the only source I have for the HE .50 cal ammo is that I can go out to one of my helicopters right now and they have HE .50 Cal loaded in them. 5-1, HE-Tracer.

[Hunt3r]

If wikipedia is to trusted, there is a Cartridge, Caliber .50, Armor-Piercing-Explosive-Incendiary, APEI-169, M02, used by the US Army.