Helicopter Gunship DEX News

Here's some preview renders of the M134 turret/door gunner for the Chinook. Hat's off to Manu, the designer, who also went ahead and included an ammo box and shell casings tunnel which I hadn't even thought of ːsteamhappyː

They also produced a rear mount although I don't think the M134 was ever mounted in the rear (happy to be corrected). In HG:DEX an M134 tail gunner will be an option though because "why not!"

Both the M60 and M134 will also be available on the Lynx and Gazelle as door gunners (at the expense of interior cargo) as well as on the Hind temporarily till I get a suitable alternative gun made. ːsteamsunnyː

This will also allow me to build and prototype the turret system without having to produce the Chinook first. I will probably take a look at the door gunners in the next few days to give the game some meaningful content while I continue to work on the new Sector System.

The other thing I will be exploring is how you will control the gunners and my current favourite option is to have the gunners only active when the doors of the helicopter are open. Closing the doors of the helicopter will move the gunners inside preventing them from firing. This has two benefits...

1. You don't need any extra controls
2. Moving the gunners inside the helicopter will protect them from taking damage as they will be fully modelled components that can be killed

Feedback on that system is very welcome. Alternatively you could have specific gunners on/off controls but I feel this is just adding complexity for no real gain.

Anyway, on to the images...

This update should fix 2 important bugs...

1. A.I. aircraft will no longer come back to life and start moving and engaging targets when they are outside the player's bubble.

2. AGM-122 Sidearm will now fly straight ahead when launched and it has no current target. Before, the missile would sort of follow the direction of your helicopter so if you pitched down after launch the missile would also pitch down causing the missile to crash into the ground.

These updates will also be pushed to the Public Branch in the next day or two as they are quite important.

[h2]M60[/h2]

The M60 model is now complete and here's a couple of renders showing it in the various positions on the Chinook...









These types of turrets will be fully autonomous in that they will find and engage targets on their own. The only real control you will have over them is being able to turn them on & off.

The other really cool thing is that they can be attached to anything so tanks, APCs, static positions - really anything can have one of these turrets stuck to it and they will work ːsteamhappyː

[h2]Mi-35[/h2]

Work is now progressing on the Mi-35 model which will complete the current Hind line up...



[h2]Super Hind[/h2]

Work is also progressing on the Super Hind model. This helicopter will also include a fully modelled interior cockpit and will probably form the first "test" paid DLC for the game to see how well it is received and to see whether it can cover its development costs. If it does then it opens the door to expand the roster of helicopters to include as many as possible! ːsteamsunnyː

Another little patch to fix the Mi-24 Hind's excessive speed when being piloted by your wingman.

[h2]Mi-8 Hip Skins[/h2]











[h2]AGM-88 HARM[/h2]

The HARM will be available shortly to give you another tool to deal with air defences. The HARM (High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile) is a much more sophisticated missile than the Sidearm. It is faster, has a longer range and can be directed to seek out a particular radar type. I'm not yet 100% sure exactly how this will work but it might be something simple such as selecting a mode from ALL, SAM or AAA radar systems.

The downside to the missile is that 1 will take up a full weapon station on an Apache so the Sidearm will still have its place in your arsenal!

New support aircraft will also be available so expect to see F-18/F-16 in a SEAD/DEAD configuration.







[h2]Chinook Gunners[/h2]

Work has started on the 1st gunner for the Chinook. This will be the M-60 7.62mm gun which can be mounted as a door gunner and a rear tail gunner. Other options such as the M134 Minigun and M2 .50 Cal will follow shortly after that and you will be able to mix and match as you see fit ːsteamhappyː

Gunners such as these will be totally automated and will engage targets as they see fit although you will be able to toggle them between "Hold Fire" & "Fire at Will".