Hello everyone,

I'm Pedro from Portugal (call sign Boresight).
Although I've known SimHQ forums from several years ago, just registered a couple days ago. So this is my first post here.
I'm also a big flight sim enthusiast (mostly military jets), and I've been playing them since roughly 1993 or so.

Last year I'm playing Falcon BMS and SF 2: NA mostly.

Although a couple years ago or so, I've tried DCS Black Shark and somewhat enjoyed it, I realised that the Ka-50 helicopter isn't as appealing to me as the Mi-24 Hind.
The avionics realism and complex targeting / acquisition procedures really are my thing and were very well depicted in the game, however certain particularities of the Ka-50 don't turn me on.

So after finding the Take on Helicopters: Hinds and reading a lot of posts here, I do still have some doubts about its features and would appreciate your help to clear them up if possible.
I will post my doubts soon.

Best regards

Upon reading about:
- poor depiction on Pilot’s HUD sights (non collimated HUD bore cross);
- AI Pilot doesn’t maintain hovering when player is the Gunner;


My specific doubts about the TOH Hinds are:

1 - do you think the Gunner aiming sights / FLIR screen / whatever involves targeting, aiming, etc. is reasonably well depicted?

2 - is it possible to play the entire missions as Gunner?

3 - is the flexible canon sights/cursor shown around the Gunner’s cockpit, or in the FLIR screen/MFD?

4 - are radio guided missile moving sights, projected at some kind of Gunners HUD or also at the FLIR screen/MFD ?

5 - how does one slew/move the flexible canon to target – arrow keys or mouse?

Not intended to be bothering you people, just trying to understand if I’m going to buy this or not.
Thank you a lot for your attention.

Hello everyone,

So, this thread is more than 500 views already and no one's leaving an opinion?
Come on people, I really woul appreciate your insight on my doubts.

Thank you.

Unfortunately I didn't pick up TKOH: Hinds because it didn't include much beyond the Hind. TKOH by itself was a fair shake but I think they ran out of juice midway through. General flying feels about right to me (keeping in mind I have no real flight experience), but content to keep you going outside of that is lacking. If you haven't, I'd suggest reading the SimHQ here: http://www.simhq.com/_air14/air_536a.html

If Hinds had included a comprehensive campaign I would have considered it worth a shot. As a standalone helicopter for TKOH you may be disappointed, especially if you're looking for DCS fidelity and quality.

Then ToH:Hinds is not what you are looking for.

I bought Hinds addon on sale but not tried it yet, so can`t say anything about youre questions. With ToH in general is it all about youre liking. If you like to fly helicopters in a nice environment then have a look at it. But prepare to be dissapointed when you look for specific things like these ones in youre questions.
The only alternatives to fly the Hind so far are the old game HIND (http://www.gog.com/gamecard/hind) and EECH (http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/forums/13/1/EECH_EEAH).
Did you already looked at Youtube vids with ToH:Hinds? And if you have not done it yet, then ask youre questions on the ToH forums (http://forums.bistudio.com/forumdisplay.php?114-TAKE-ON-HELICOPTERS). I think there are many guys who have the answers.

Hello Pedro and welcome to the SimHQ forums!

BTW, I'm also from Portugal so it's nice the see an (another) "countryman" here in SimHQ.

Regarding ToH:Hinds I completely agree with EagleEye[GER], I think you'll be (very) disappointed at it. At least I am!
I have both ToH and the ToH:Hind addon and like you I also bought ToH:Hind because the Mi-24 Hind is one of my favourite Attack Helicopters on par with the Apache and AH-1Z but with the advantage that you can also carry troops.
Curiously that I also didn't get much into DCS Black Shark (despite owning both DCS Black Shark 1 and 2) because of the helicopter itself (I also don't fancy Ka-50 much) but the rest of the game is great with the exception of the campaign which IMO should be dynamic (but some missions are still great). Regarding DCS and since apparently we have similar tastes as I, did you try DCS World? It brings and models the Su-25T (the Su-25 is basically the only Russian jet that really enjoy, but that's my personal taste) and better yet, it's completely FREE (or in Portuguese: "de borla")!

But getting back to ToH:Hind, here's are my opinions:
1- ToH:Hind avionics are basically the SAME as in ArmA2. So in case you have ArmA2 it's much better to play and fly with the Hind in ArmA2 than in ToH:Hind and the reasons are:
- The list of other enemy and friendly units is very limited, specially regarding infantry. For example the only infantry that you have in ToH:Hind is an "eastern" soldier with an AK-74, an "eastern" soldier with a Strella, a US soldier with a M4 and a US soldier with a Stinger (4 soldier types top). It's also true that with the latest ToH patch you can merge ArmA's units and maps with ToH but again this only happens if you have ArmA2 installed! But even so I would prefer to play ArmA2 since it has a much wider variety of missions and campaigns and the number of players is also much higher in ArmA2 (useful if you want to play in multiplayer).
2- The Hind's flight model in ToH:Hind seems very good and very realistic (albeit I never flew any helicopter in my life - my only experience is with flight sims) and seems definitely better than the flight model in ArmA2 but I don't think that this advantage compensates the other advantages of playing with the Hind in ArmA2.


At least these are my opinions, I hope it help...

sejam bemvindos, portugueses.

take on helicopters is, in my oppinon, just an ARMA extension, but a good one.

it has a very nice FM (for the littlebird) and with mods also for the other 2 helis, which are a bit less lovely modeled in the stock version, for instance the windshields are the same bad quality since...like forever, the AW101 (heavy) seemingly can not retract its gear (the hind can, though..) and other little arma-like disapointments and bugs. It is definatly not a systems- or study sim. But it is quite good with mods and friends as a complex sandbox plattform that is highly versatile and fun in the stick-n-rudder(errtailrotor) department. If you are in doubt, you should definatly try the demo.

Hahaha !!! Very good, very good !

Thank you DrZebra for the good will.

I fully understand your report, and I'm biginning to understand to what level TOH: HINDS is or is not a systems / study sim.
I've already registered at the BI Studio, and read a lot of SimHQ threads and reviews, and already have an ideia of what this "light sim" offers.

Thank you for your attention!

Best regards

Franze and EagleEye (GER),

Thank you for your insight and advices. I've already registered at BI Studio forums and people have already clarified my doubts.
I'm not sure, but I believe you all have seen my thread was more about the TOH HINDS specifics, yes?

I started to put my questions here at SimHQ forum, because that's were I saw the TOH: HINDS most thorough review and respective pics of various HUDs; optical sights; etc.


Ricnunes,

I've sent you 2 PM's already.


Everyone who whish to leave their opinion, feel free to do it.
Thank you all for your time!

I have an opinion. ToH was a really enjoyable single player experience. I liked the idea of a good linear story combined with a very capable sim. But once the story was over there wasnt much left for me aside from some toying with the editor. Oh and it also introduced me to Chenarus and ARMA. ToHinds is beyond awful. A terrible FM and an ugly pit. Stick with the Ka50 and you will never look back (although you might wish for more convincing terrain).

Hello Smokin_Hole,

I've bought the TOH & TOH Hinds last week, and for what I was expecting, the general appreciation isn't bad.

I've also played DCS Blackshark some 2 or 3 years ago, however, although the DCS sim was outstsanding in terms of realism, and several things like managing weapons; sensors; target acquisition; etc, I don't find the Ka-50 itself that fun... ex. that semi-flexible gun doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
Also don't like the double main rotor.

Don't get me wrong, in terms of sim complexity I find it very appealing (I enjoy Falcon BMS a lot), however I think that most people tend's to play with a "machine" they feel somewhat attracted to; one with which a sim player identifies himself.
And for me in the helicopters department, it's either the Mi-24 Hind or an AH-64 Apache.

Of course, the TOH Hinds really is somewhat "simplified" in terms of realism, that's true, but it balance's with other things.