[HB] Base Capture Training.

Brief.


i am very weak in Helicopter Piloting & Simulations.

i cannot afford a Professional Flight Joystick or HOTAS, so i struggle with mouse & keyboard as well - for now at least.

i have serious troubles in combat, even against ground forces at day, on easiest map settings.

yet, i did progress today.

i've used AH-1G Cobra, on U.S. side - on Vietnam, Operation Nguyen Hue map.

i tried easiest possible settings, but didn't waste too much of my time struggling with game's configuration.

Started in HQ, flied to close base then engaged in fight - without knowing weaknessess & strengths of my Helicopter, except that it had both machine gun & unguided rockets.

i maneuvred strongly, flying in circles to make me harder target - almost crashing few times because of poor flight control, thinking & imagination.

At least i flew low, as helicopters should professionally - as my insights told me.

i was hit few times with machine guns from the ground base.

i shooted automatic fire without caring for conserving ammo too much - first rockets then machine guns.

Rockets removed few of the ground infantry machine guns, then were depleted.

Last of machine gun stands was removed by machine gun - wasted a lot of ammo too.

With troubles managed to land, but had no onboard troops to capture base.

Had no more of my precious time to continue, but it was still a small win on this way.

Even that i have more important things to do, i still care for smaller ways & those who i do such things for.

Still a progress, nevertheless.




Map.




HQ.




Start - HUD On.




Flight.




Evade.




Hit.




Shoot.




Clear.




Landing.




Landed.

[GEN/AI/HB] Corridors.

Heliborne's new singleplayer mode.

Heliborne is still in an early access stage, but game now includes single player & cooperative maps with randomly chosen tasks - without enemy pilot opposition for now at least. There are only ground & waterborne opponents.


AI & Corridors.

After studying some of AI theory & practice, i learned it's especially good at handling a large amounts of input data, categorizing, and making decision based on that.

After some thoughts i had insights that one of most important tasks for Heli AI would be to find 'corridors' for completing tasks.

Tasks can include for example:
- Flying from a directed point A to a directed point B,
- Destroying Target(s) X,
- Escaping Target(s) Z,
- Landing at a position P,
- Combination of above.

Probably there can be many possible 'Corridors' for reaching task(s) above, these involve flying more or less safely and completing a task.

Options for 'Corridors' can include:
- Safest corridor - might be slow,
- Aggresive - fast & deadly,
- Slow & Offensive,
- Fast Defensive.


Plans.

i've decided my current exercise for a while would be practicing Quick Landing & above of four 'Corridors' on a single player missions for now.

[HB] Landed.

Landed.


'A moment for breath,
On the Landing Zone.

If they come for death,
They'll taste the agony.'


--
Practiced landing for a while & admired sights.

[HB] Enjoying the Sun.

The Sun.

'Metallic wings stretched,
Under the Sun.

No enemy wind nor edge*,
Shall bring me down.'


* not even the cutting edge of the advanced technology ;)


--
It was a while since i played Heliborne.

Game is still incomplete, in a early access stage.

JetCat Games is regularly providing updates & patches, too numerous for me to track or list them all.

After a time of not playing, i lost grasp of helis' controls, nevertheless, this all didn't stop me from flying a little aimlessly, from enjoying a view of the Sun.