Rules

1. Registered members are free to submit a tutorial concerning any aspect of Battlefield Vietnam.
2. Submissions must be of a reasonable standard of English.
3. The forum moderator retains the right to change and/ or edit your submission for any reason.
4. Any submissions must be original work, unless full credit is given to the original author and their permission has been obtained.
5. No two subjects may be covered, look before posting. If you wish to add something to a tutorial already covered, PM either the author or the moderator.
6. Have fun learning!!
7. Please us this thread for feedback, complaints, questions or suggestions.


List of Contents

Tutorial 1 = Basic Helicopter Flying

Tutorial 2 = Effective use of Artillery

Tutorial 3 = Advanced Helicopter Skills




Tutorial 1: my Helicopter tutorial.


Basic Helicopter flying in Battlefield Vietnam

I fly helicopters in real life, so I sure can teach you the game version.

A couple of things to start with before doing this:

- Set your control options to maximum sensitivity for easier controlling.

- Make sure your framerate is above 30 FPS. You can check this by pressing the tilde key (~)to enter the console. Then type "FPS 1" without the quotes. On the top left you will see your frames per second displayed. To reverse this repeat the above but change the 1 to a 0.
The reason you need a good framerate is purely for smoothness of controls. If you only get 10 FPS, for example, the controls would be very choppy and jerky. Controlling the heli would be much harder.

- If you can't achieve the above, try this guide

You need to know some basic stuff before you actually touch the real thing, like how the helicopter works and flys. So.....

Basics

The main rotors create lift by having the air flow faster on one side of the blade than the other, thus creating an aircushion (or LIFT) underneath them. The tailrotor creates the same effect but horizontally so you can use it to turn (or YAW) left or right.

Takeoff

By lifting the collective (or POWER), the aircraft will start to lift up. Use a tiny bit of YAW to correct the tendency for the nose to turn. You correct it by using the pedals to turn the opposite way of the force. Once in the air, settle it into a gentle hover and then......

Flight control

.....push forwards on the cyclic control(the joystick or arrow buttons). This tilts the main rotorblades and then the nose dips. You will need to add more lift (POWER) to stay in the air and if you combine the two gently you have transitioned to forward flight. That is the simple part. Obviously by using the main blades to tilt left or right you will angle the heli so, that it will start moving that way. However the secondary effect of that is that the heli will lose altitude. So you must apply more power in a turn.

Ascent and descent

Relatively simple, you ascend (or CLIMB) by raising the collective (or POWER). Don't think this is a plane and raise the nose, this only serves to bleed off speed and therefore handling ability.(a helicopter handles easier at speed.)You may also find yourself eventually flying backwards uncontrollably. So nose parrallel to the sea and power up is climb. The descent is one of two:
1. Keep the heli parrallel to the sea and lower the collective gently, thus losing altitude slowly.
2. Or, point the nose down to the ground and lose half your power. When you pull up you then have 50% of power to play with. This is called a fast rate descent.

Throttle control

From the above you can understand that their is always a need to have some power handy. Therefore when you are flying straight, it should never be at full power, but rather just under. About 85% in this game. This leaves you with enough spare power to make a quick turn in the event of anything unusual, or just a sharp turn.

Landing

So now you can takeoff into a hover, move forwards into flight and even execute some turns without losing height. Obviously this is the part where most n00bs get stuck and just dump the aircraft, wasting valuable resources for their team. The best thing (although not always!) to do in game, is to return to base (RTU) to refuel, rearm, repair and maybe even offer guys and gals a lift. So to do that you need to land. This can be done very crudely as long as you land on the matting that is the heli pad. Because it starts repairing you about 3 feet from the ground, as long as you can manoeuvre the heli to that place, you will just be able to drop it onto the pad, wait a couple of seconds and then takeoff fully bombed again. However, in some places where the landing is very tight, for example the american boat with helipad, you will need to know how to properly land it.
I even have trouble on the boat, but it can be done, even under fire.
Basically it's a takeoff in reverse. So you come in straight to the pad and before the pad dissapears under your nose, you pull the cyclic control right back, slowing you down and then push forwards until your in about what looks like a very crude hover. From here you stabilise yourself into a good hover, and gently start lowering the collective (power) until your about 20 feet up. Then you figure out exactly where your landing pad is, use the pedal controls to turn to it, all the while staying in a hover. Using gentle touchs you use the controls in opposites, so if you need to move slowly forward: push forward and then pull back again to the original poistion. This ensures that you don't just dip your nose into the nearest bush. Do this until your just in front of the pad. Now lower the power to 40% roughly and you should gently lose altitude. Do this until you are about to touch the ground, just before touchdown apply a touch of power to soften the landing and voila. You've just achieved something that many veteran players can't do!!

Last but not least a couple of unwritten rules for helicopter flying in Battlefield Vietnam.

1. Never just hop in and fly away. Look around and make sure no one wants a lift. The only Helicopter in the game that has no use for a second person is the NVA spawn MI-8. Every other one is much more potent with a co-pilot to fire the heatseekers, rockets, minigun or M60.

2.If you haven't mastered the above lessons, keep the f�ck away until you have, there is nearly always someone that will be able to manipulate the chopper to benefit the team. Learn offline, not online.

3.Press 'q' to bring up the interactive map, that way you won't kill that MI-8 in front if it has a buddy in it. You will even see concentrations of your infantry to pick up or assist.

4.Use the speed of the helicopter to your advantage, don't sit their terrorising one postion. Rather, get about low and fast and terrorise as many as possible as fast as possible. The main advantage of helicopters is their ability to be in many places in a short timespan. If your just going to hover there until you get taken out, why not take a tank instead, huh?

5. If you hadn't noticed, all the above involve one thing (well two if your gonna be a smart ass and say a helicopter!): TEAMWORK. The main thing in this game is not your points, or your killcount. It's the win. Thats only achievable by using all your teams assets in the most effecient way. If you step up to one of the teams best assets, the helicopter, you are expected to use it for the greater gain of the team. I'm fed up seeing people mucking about on the horizion, when they could pick me and my sniper partner up and transport us halfway across the battlefield in a tenth of the time. Still benefiting the team, just not directly. Not always in the midst of the action, but still remembered in the after action report!!

Obviously the above has taken me some time to write, so I hope it's helpful to those who need it. If you have any suggestions or opinions, tell me and I'll add it with full credit to yourself.

It is my intention to write an advanced tutorial covering strafing runs, lateral flight, hovering at height, pirouettes and any other manouevre anyone might want explained. If this tutorial has helped you, please let me know. That way I know whether or not to write a follow up.



Tutorial 2: Effective use of Artillery


This one was made to help you improve your Artillery fire.


1.Get someone to get you a target or do it yourself. Go to F3 to ask for a target

2.Enter a artillery cannon

3.When you are using the cannon right click and you will get a special view, You only get this view when there is a target. The target only last for a while but then you can get another target

4.Move left and right or up and down and see the top and side slider move. The one on the side is distance, if its high up the shot will go farther. The top one is to turn your cannon, left is left and right is right. In this next picture notice i missed the house and hit the water, thus I need to raise it higher.

5.I simply move right and I got a direct hit on the house and can continue to fire on it if there were more enemy's there.

6.If some one were to call it for you and was closer to the target you would get a closer view at the target to help you get a better shot

7.Notice how the blast becomes more clear when your closer to the target. Also where it says "Soldier MN316 45", MN316 would be the name of who got you the target and 45 would be how many secs you have left before the target disappears.


Artillery Tutorial copyright and courtesy of monkey_ninjas316



click the image for his profile.




Tutorial 3: My Advanced Helicopter Skills Tutorial





Shagura's Advanced Helicopter Tutorial.

Right then, we all want to have some fun now we have learnt to fly so how about a bit of stunting to start us off?

Barrol Rolls: when flying forward push the cyclic hard right or left and flip over sideways. You need to push the opposite way just before you get to the top to keep your from going over again or coming out of it upside down.

Inside Loop: when flying forward pull the cyclic back hard. You'll nose up and over eventually and will lose a lot of altitude quickly. Make sure you are very high before attempting this.

Outside Loop: when flying forward push the cyclic forward hard. You'll nose down and over eventually and will lose a lot of altitude quickly. Make sure you are extremely high before attempting this.

Back Flip: do a complete back flip starting from a hover. To do this, pull back on the cyclic, give it some collective and flip upside down. Drop collective and push forward on the cyclic to even out and then pull cyclic up to get your lost alitude back. If you are quick enough you won't lose much. If you are not quick enough you'll be copying an ostrich with your head in the sand!


Killing circles.

I'm talking about a circle where you point your nose down and circle around a target.

A Pirouette is pointing the nose up and turning around in one spot. Make sure you have some speed when you attemp this as the manouevre will bleed speed off and you will begin to lose altitude otherwise.

Rolling turns are good for aiming at a ground target while in motion because they quickly turn into circling around your target. If when you are flying you see a target on the ground ahead of you, choose a side to circle around them on.

Remember, you don't want to approach people head on, because they will either see you and leg it or shoot first giving them the upperhand in the fight.
Remember: Offence is the best form of Defence.
As you pass over them yaw hard to the side you determined so the tail swings around. If you pass the target on your left, apply right yaw so your tail comes around and your nose is pointing left towards your target.
When the tail comes around you will tilt over to your right but will still be moving forward.
If you keep yaw up you will begin to circle because as you tilt over to the right the rotors are leaning over and pulling you forward at the same time the tailrotor is pulling the tail around.
If you push forward on the cyclic a bit to aim downwards you will begin circling the target in what I call a killing circle.
It is a very tricky thing to master correctly, so make sure (as with all of these actually) that you practice offline first until you master it.

Pirouette is like the killing circle but with your nose pointed up, instead of down.
We use this manouevre to execute very slow speed high energy turns.
Another words turn around fast cos you just flew over an enemy and you want to kill him!
Pull back on the cyclic to point your nose up and slow down to a near hover, this needs to be done extremely fast to the extent where when you pull pack if your at full speed, you should lose all the power and just pull back until your angled 45 degrees nose up.
When the speed have dropped to a near hover apply full rudder and drop the nose until slightly above the horizon.
With your nose where it is the tail will come around underneath you instead of around you, making your turning radius a lot smaller.
When you've come all the way around, push forward on the cyclic to point your nose back down at the target, let the aircraft settle for a second and blat away at the enemy in the hover or if you want you can scream back to them and go into the killing circle!

Well thats all I've got time for, for now. Again, people, post if you want more and I will write more.
I'll just leave you with some tips as before. This time however, they are more advanced tips:

- Medical help: The medic choppers can heal people while they transport them. Have your injured players meet you at a point on the battlefield and then fly them around until you have healed them, finally, drop them off back in the thick of it while you hide somewhere to the edge of the battle out of sight but just waiting for the next call for a medic!

- Sniper Platform: Carry a sniper with you in the back of transport helicopter and they can call for artillery with an increased visibility of the battlefield. If your skill is high and you can hover still and their shooting skill is high then you can even snipe from above, a brilliant tactic. You can also drop C4 or mines onto targets or grenade them.

-Rescues: You can fly anywhere on the map so make sure if people call for pick up that you respond. You took the responsibilty of using the only chooper on the map? Well then bloody move your arse because people are relying on you to get them into battle. Pickup a gunner or drop them off somewhere useful. Don't let them die when they need healing, don't let them stand at the main base three minutes walk away from the nearest battlefield, remember your responsibility!

Last note is really that you should notice the above tactics are not for gloryhunters.
If you are a Rambo or a gloryhunter, go f3cking elsewhere. The guys in the heli's are generally not the goldmedal holders (unless they are a huey attack or cobra.).
They need to be "for the team" not themselves.

If BFV scored assists then in most games I would rate very high, because I scream around the battlefield injuring enemy, dropping off troops, healing troops, whatever is needed at the time.

This allows for easier kills for infantry (because I wounded their foe), quicker responses to flag attacks (because I dropped them off there), less respawn time wasted and thus more killing time(because they kept coming to me to get healed), so you see a heli pilot in BFV really is the busybody of the team and although you may not get 40 odd points in a game, all the team will love you if you do it right and the enemy will fear the wocca, wocca sound of yet another incoming Huey raining soldiers and death from above.................




















This message was edited by shagura on Aug 10 2004.

This message was edited by shagura on Aug 10 2004.

omg
thanks shag

That really helped me, when i didnt know how to fly thanks to you i got over the n00b stage quickly

Well, I'm back again at last. I passed my course, thank god, I don't think I could do it again had i failed! Anyway, thanks for the feedback guys and ladies, glad it helps you! Any questions or requests just PM me!

You put alot of effort into the Tutorial well done in passing

This one was made to help you improve your Artillery fire.

1.Get someone to get you a target or do it yourself. Go to F3 to ask for a target

2.Enter a artillery cannon

3.When you are using the cannon right click and you will get a special view, You only get this view when there is a target. The target only last for a while but then you can get another target

4.Move left and right or up and down and see the top and side slider move. The one on the side is distance, if its high up the shot will go farther. The top one is to turn your cannon, left is left and right is right. In this next picture notice i missed the house and hit the water, thus I need to raise it higher.

5.I simply move right and I got a direct hit on the house and can continue to fire on it if there were more enemy's there.

6.If some one were to call it for you and was closer to the target you would get a closer view at the target to help you get a better shot

7.Notice how the blast becomes more clear when your closer to the target. Also where it says "Soldier MN316 45", MN316 would be the name of who got you the target and 45 would be how many secs you have left before the target disappears.

sorry for some bad graphics, I had to tweak my res to 640x480 to make the pics smaller and so fraps would run better

This message was edited by monkey_ninjas316 on Aug 05 2004.

Well I think I speak for everyone of us in the Artillery thread in saying THANK YOU!

hey no problem, glad to help. It worked in BF1942 and EA cept it for Vietnam Also in the pictures the little tank icon means there is a nearby enemy or empty tank next to your target. If you see a tank near your target with no icon then be careful, its most likely your teams tank and the last thing you want is a TK

this tutorial was great! if you are going to add to the tutorial with advanced moves, then circling around one spot at an angle would be great (is that strafing runs?) and also lateral flights and pirouettes. awesome

I will add to it, but I am very busy at the moment with all my graphics and web design commitments, so soon hopefully.

shagura does it again!!
cheers man you halped beyond belief, used to thimk myself a pretty compotent pilot but i got along way to go looking at this!

Hey Monkey, any chance of finding out where your images went, mate?

I'm going to have to do them over, then use NURV to host them for me. My image host has been down for 2 long and makes me wonder if its commming back up :\

Mate, don't use NURV, it's poo. Try http://www.imageshack.us it has never failed me yet!
I've been using it over a year, thanks for re doing your tut.

I have trouble keeping the helicopter level... Or even knowing where level is...

Is there some kind of horizon display I can put on ?