Helicopters & NVGs

[Psychobob]

I'll start off by saying I don't hate helicopters. Flying them is definitely my favorite thing to do in ArmA. However, in mods such as this one the helicopters truly have a negative effect on the gameplay. Seemingly well hidden and unlikely to be discovered base locations are easily being found. I'd say it's statistically impossible that they're all being found by people traveling by Land or Sea. I purposely setup some camps in various locations to see if or when they would be discovered, each had a vehicle and a tipi and every single one of them has already been discovered in less than 24 hours. Only one Tipi seems to have gone undiscovered since the items inside are still intact. The vehicles nearby it however are now missing and destroyed.

I honestly thought with the size difference between Altis and all of the other maps that helicopters wouldn't be as much of a concern but I was clearly wrong. Sure this is just my little test but I know I'm not the only person who thought the base locations I had picked surly wouldn't be discovered for a long time and was mistaken.

This is pretty much the only reason I believe choppers should be removed. I also don't believe they are necessary for transportation at all, especially with how the loot system (currently) works in the mod. You no longer need to travel long distances to find certain types of loot. Helicopters also don't offer anything significant to the gameplay that would be lost if they were removed. I feel all of the players and the mod overall would benefit from their removal. I also feel that removing them would add to the longevity of the mod.

Currently there is no secure storage that I'm aware of. Once secure storage is added people finding your base location will be slightly of less concern but, unless you want people to find it, it's much more convenient to have it remain hidden. You will still have vehicles and other forms of insecure storage that would would like to keep hidden after all.

 

 

 

As for Nightvision Goggles... It might be too soon for this concern since the loot hasn't been balanced and such but I think they should be exceedingly rare. They aren't really necessary during night-time gameplay. So far I've had no trouble traveling or looting at night with default brightness and monitor settings. There is also and should remain to be plenty of light source items, i.e. chemlights & flashlights. Without NVGs the gameplay during the night seems to also fit much better with the theme of the mod.

 

 

 

I've felt this way since the start of the DayZ mod/ArmA 2 Epoch mod. I just don't want to see the same flaws included again. I think the removal of helicopters should at least be tested since the mod is still so early in development.

[megabison]

i thought about that.

 

1) flying helicopters with mates and then getting shot and or failing is too much fun for the winning and the loosing team on the server. the terror a player gets when an armed helicopter flies over them is great. they hide in bushes because the heli might shoot or is scouting for a sniper teammate.

 

2) why do players build a base? in my opinion they do it to "safe" stuff they cant "hide"

if you build a base thats inventory cant be found (cars weapons ammo) why build a base around it anyway?

further more many want to brag with a base so they wont hide but place it strategically to good lootspawn and maybe close to respawn or a good defensive pos. most ppl only care that nobody knows whos the owner of that base :D

if i want to own cars and helicopters and stuff and im scared that somebody might find those things i have to secure them with a base. (which might get chainsawed but thats effort and thats cool)

 

 

ah and to the NVGs: if you make them too rare or expensive this might only encourage ppl to change their brightness/gamma and cheat. id love to see more flashlight (and attachments) or flares or chemlights but they are useless since its so easy to cheat at night in arma. it would be great if the server could set the brightness maximum and gamma maximum like the server could set the viewing distance in arma 2.

[soulmasta76]

I think you make a really good point here. Just wanted to show my support for this idea.

[BoONDocK]

I have no problem with helis in the game at all.  

[wingtip]

helis are fine in game...   and yes people are finding bases on foot and by sea...  even as big as altis is , its quite easy for several reasons

 

1 not very dense forests or vegetation for hiding things

2 dumb people hiding stuff not very well or build very large making blatant obvious

3 clump their vehicles to close to a hidden base where people just find a vehicle then look for the base

4 some things aren't in game yet like craftable camo netting or structures