I agree the with the rate that you go up and down is totally different speeds even with a joystick

It seems the problem is especially connected to the keyboard, since I find myself quite a lot more in control of the chopper with my X52 HOTAS...

personally have not had any problems or issues with this, feels about the same as it was in A2, though i will agree that the physics as a whole are a bit off.

i agree too .

I have had this issue, with X and C having very little effect sometimes with the keyboard. I've tried flying the helicopter 5 times so far with this problem on each. On the first the W and S keys also didn't respond well, barely moving the helicopter and then reaching a point where it just didn't affect it at all anymore.

Update:
Video encoded and uploaded (in 4K). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcSwb66Vrcs&list=PLIgfh22pB6pZfXK0gwftgP4A5iXuw-gSS

Jump to

• 15:08 I hit "Z" to get lower but the chopper does not act as expected
• 16:27 I hit other keys, maybe they lower the chopper as expected
• 16:51 "X,C" for cyclic control don't have enough effect when moving at medium speed.
• 20:10 Maybe the "Z" key is not mapped correctly? Checking, it is mapped correctly.
• 20:50 cyclic control not working as expectet again, so "different" way to turn.
• 24:31 tryinc cyclic control for the last time, and landing....

Go up and down with a joystick is very slow (I use a Logitech extreme 3d pro). But using the keyboard it's seems to go well. And same problem with the left and right turn, too slow (keyboard and joystick).

It is true that this effect is roughly the same as in A2... but this is A3, so we cross our toes and hope for better.
Dumping the collective in a real chopper will have quite a violent effect.
Not asking for vortex ring state simulation (although that would be so nice), but a more realistic impact from dumping the collective would make flying so much better.
Doing crazy acrobatic slides to lose altitude is quite detrimental to the whole 'realism' thing :)

Important note:
Pressing E makes the helicopter tilt forward. Even though it's not assigned to anything. Pretty annoying considering my preference of hotkeys is E for right pedal and Q for right pedal.

Please developers, take a look at comanche 1/2/3/gold (not comanche 4) for good realistic chopper control. Or use Aerofly which is a VERY good program to learn how a chopper actually works (even though it is focused on copper-models). Or go to the Airforce and let them show you how a chopper feels, since you are doing a military simulation which tries to be close to reality (compared to Battlefield/MOH/COD etc) they will help you for sure.

If you are used to realistic chopper control you have a hard time in ArmA 3.

No matter how fast I fly (forward or backward) Q and Z are supposed to lift me up or down very fast, they control the pitch of the main rotor blades. As workaround you use Q and Z to stop and start the engine while being on ground, that is OK, but after liftoff they don't control the rotor rotation speed, that one usually does not change during flight.

W/S/A/D also control the pitch/angle of the rotor blades, the only difference is that the blade's pitch is depended on where the blade is during rotation, whether is is at the front, back or side. That is actually somewhat correctly implemented, missing: Since the lifting power is above the mass center the chopper always tends to level out itself if the W/S/A/D controls are not touched or the mouse if not moved (or the joystick is at center, did not test). It always goes towards the horizontal position automatically if you did not overdo your angle towards the ground. It does not change the movement speed (well, it does, but to a very little effect).

Most annoying about Q: If one of the W/S/A/D is pressed and additionally Q is pressed it tils into the direction (correct!) with additional acceleration (correct), but DOES NOT LOSE HEIGHT as much as it does now, if the nose is tilted to an angle of 20° (or less at higher speeds) it should not lose height like the tilt is 45°. I am sick of drilling holes into the ground due to that.
Additionally wrong: When the chopper is flying fast it also starts to behave like a gyrocopter, it rather tends to gain height than lose it. That is actually a working maneuver with _some_ real choppers and can be trained. They gain speed, and then they can actually turn off the power to the main rotor (which keeps on spinning), and fly completely using the jet propulsion and heck rotor, due to the same effect used by gyrocopters.

X/C and Mouse-Left-Mouse-Right should control the heck rotor, which is only there to make the chopper turn around it's vertical y-axis. That actually works correct if the chopper just started and is still hovering near the ground. Once we flew a litte it tends to tilt around the z-axis too, even if we are standing still. The z-axis tilt effect is there in reality, but it is far FAR away from being as strong as in this game.

Suggestion: That "turning" control should be removed completely and replaced with a good heck rotor control, X/C and mouse left/right. You already call it "left pedal" and "right pedal", which is correct, just implement the rest.

About "E" BogatyrVoss mentioned, I didn't notice but it causes the same effect as "W", does not make sense, and it is not mapped according to the chopper control menu, but I have a suggestion for that:

Some of the choppers we can fly in ArmA 3 have an additional jet propulsion, that control is completely missing. Since "E" and "R" are supposed to be unmapped during flight use "E" to turn on that additional acceleration and speed it up, and "R" to turn down until off. Don't forget: The propulsion cannot make the chopper move backwards *g*. The additional propulsion does also make the nose of the chopper go a bit down (at least for those choppers I know).

The descent speed can indeed be increased. However, the X and C are okay, they are not supposed to have much effect when you have reasonable horizontal speed. This was the same in Arma 2 and TKOH, if you want to turn you should tilt the main rotor.

Total agree!

A lot of the helicopter controls just feel off. Having to put my helicopter at a 90 degree angle just to get it to stop is a bit absurd, not to mention the fact that I CAN put my helicopter at a 90 degree angle without any problems. The entire time I'm flying I feel like the chopper is fighting me, and the nose seems to fight to stay up. It almost feels like the nose is what's flying the chopper, not the rotors.

Dupe of #1970.