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Harrier VTOL and you


BenFromTTG
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So essentially this is a guide on how to take off vertically, go from a vertical hover to normal flying, and how to go from flying to a hover, and my general harrier tips

Sections:

1. Vertical & Short Takeoff

2. Maintaining a stable hover

3. Transitioning from flying to hover and vice versa

4. Tips

1. Vertical & Short Takeoff

Vertical Takeoff can be performed while armed or unarmed, which is contrary to real life, where a certain weight limit is present. To start with make sure that flaps are all the way down (ctrl + scroll wheel with auto-vectoring on) then turn Auto-Vectoring off (ctrl+X or can be turned off via scroll wheel menu). Once flaps are down and auto vectoring are off, hold shift+ctrl and scroll down. This will increase thrust while adjusting the Pegasus nozzles to the vertical position. If successful, the plane will now be slowly taking off. While the plane slowly takes off, keep holding ctrl and keep scrolling down, as it may sometimes fly straight forward. After about 5 seconds or so, the jet will start lifting more rapidly. This is when you can stop scrolling.

Short takeoff is very similar. The only difference is that you keep auto-vectoring on, and the game will automatically adjust them to do a short takeoff. So just make sure that flaps are down, auto-vectoring is on and just hold shift.

2. Maintaining a stable hover

Now maintaining the hover is a fiddly part. It isn't too far from a helicopter to be fair, but it has some differences. Firstly, it turns horizontally quite slowly, and it is almost impossible to truly hover (you will mainly be at a speed of -5 to 5 kph.) The engine power in the top right and the speed are the two main things you should keep an eye on. Certain engine levels will cause the plane to do certain things. 50-65 will cause plane to go down. 66-74 will make the plane hover, and 75-100 will cause lift. To get a stable hover, you must make sure that the engine is around 70, whilst also making subtle forward movements to compensate for the speed variations caused by the lift.

3. Transitioning from flying to hover and vice versa

Once your in a hover, you'll probably went to get out of it and do some fast flying. To do this, make sure the engine level is above 75 and then simply hold ctrl and then scroll up. This will adjust the nozzles to the horizontal position and the plane will then accelerate forwards. Then, turn auto-vectoring on so that you can put the flaps up (ctrl+X for auto-vectoring then ctrl and scroll wheel up for flaps).

Transitioning from flying into a hover can be tricky. The idea is to slow down enough for the plane hover, while still being fast enough not to stall. To achieve this, drop the engine to about 40-45, then make sure that auto-vectoring is off and the nozzles are pointing downwards. I don't know whether or not flaps are necessary, but I keep them on anyway to stop from dropping. Then simply pull up to slow down. When the plane is at a certain speed (below 40 kph I believe) the harrier will automatically transition to hovering. Keep pulling up until the plane is at about 10kph. Then, level out and the plane should be hovering.

Tips

Please see @cineafx and @Guest's comments as they're actually qualified people when it comes to combat.

Edited by BenFromTTG
Thanks cineafx and Barcuck for feedback, I've been trying to get it approved so you guys could help me
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Most of this comment can be ignored now that the guide got updated.

 

Because I'm on mobile I can't quote parts ... italic means quote for this post.

 

- For CAS, I  recommend taking some Hydra rocket pods and hovering about 200m off target, and simply looking forward slightly and firing off a few rocket volleys. (Use ctrl+lmb for a better targeting camera) 

This is one of the most stupid things one could do in a VTOL ... 200m is a distance a rifleman is able to one shot you with iron sights... 

I wouldn't even do this at 1000m ... The point of a plane is speed ... And unlike a helicopter a VTOL does not have the agility to dodge jack shit. An igla is flying at 570m/s ... The missile will reach you in 350 ms if you are 200m away ... That is not even enough time to launch countermeasures let alone starting evasive actions.

Just take more bombs / missiles instead of useless 70mm rockets. And if you want 70mm warheads ... take DAGRs ... Guidable through the targeting camera.

 

ctrl + scroll wheel with auto-vectoring on

Those are not default keybinds ... What would a guide include custom keybinds the author is using?! Why not just write your flaps down button? (PageDown by default)

 

I'm sorry if this post sounds a bit rude...

Edited by cineafx
nvm the strike through part ... that was changed a few updates ago.
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19 minutes ago, cineafx said:

Because I'm on mobile I can't quote parts ... italic means quote for this post.

 

- For CAS, I  recommend taking some Hydra rocket pods and hovering about 200m off target, and simply looking forward slightly and firing off a few rocket volleys. (Use ctrl+lmb for a better targeting camera) 

This is one of the most stupid things one could do in a VTOL ... 200m is a distance a rifleman is able to one shot you with iron sights... 

I wouldn't even do this at 1000m ... The point of a plane is speed ... And unlike a helicopter a VTOL does not have the agility to dodge jack shit. An igla is flying at 570m/s ... The missile will reach you in 350 ms if you are 200m away ... That is not even enough time to launch countermeasures let alone starting evasive actions.

Just take more bombs / missiles instead of useless 70mm rockets. And if you want 70mm warheads ... take DAGRs ... Guidable through the targeting camera.

 

ctrl + scroll wheel with auto-vectoring on

Those are not default keybinds ... What would a guide include custom keybinds the author is using?! Why not just write your flaps down button? (PageDown by default)

For the first point yes, I agree, however the 2ND point about ctrl+scrl wheel is default key binds as I haven't changed any controls in the menu to do with jets.

With the Hydra's, I should reiterate that I believe they should be used for Ground Suppression via strafes. Thank you for you feedback and suggestions.

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29 minutes ago, BenFromTTG said:

For the first point yes, I agree, however the 2ND point about ctrl+scrl wheel is default key binds as I haven't changed any controls in the menu to do with jets.

Yea NvM on that keybind part then ... they must have changed the default some time ago. I'm sorry.

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On 25/08/2018 at 00:28, BenFromTTG said:

- The Harrier is great for both CAS and air to air

The Harrier shouldn't be used as a primarily AA jet.

The acceleration on it is poor compared to that of actual CAP jets.
Only one variant actually has a radar.
The AV-8B variants can take 6 missiles at most, and those are limited to AIM-9Ms (FIR AWS ones, which have 45 deg. off-boresight capability (not good for short-range IR AA)) (and AIM-120s on the plus variant). The GR7A and GR9A can take at most 8 AIM-9Ms.
A Harrier is not designed for CAP. You don't want to load up all of the pylons with AA because the Harrier is a ground attack aircraft. If you're doing your job right and carrying primarily air-to-ground munitions, you have 2 AA missiles for emergency purposes.

If you want to be doing primarily CAP with the Harrier, you're going to be loading AA on all of your pylons. And if you're supposed to do that, the Zeus is an idiot for giving you a Harrier.

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