[MOD 0.16] Helicopters

[BHakluyt]

Hi kumpu

This is a really fantastic mod you got here. I have been using it for years almost, and it has been in every single playthrough I do. The recent addition of being able to disable inserters is great! It was super annoying to go cleanup everywhere you flew etc.

However, I have a request. Is it possible to add another setting that the chopper do not activate gates? I have a PAX railway system and it triggers the train via the gates. It would be super awesome if the chopper stop affecting the gates causing my personal train to burn that precious fuel so unnecessarily.

On a side note, what is your plan/roadmap? When will the next chopper be due? How about a very small but extremely nifty/quick/responsive and very controllable. I could do with that. But a war chopper with an artillery cannon on would be super cool too.

So by the way, I raced my personal train the other day and at current state of researches with rocket fuel they both arrived exactly the same time. When chopper started to land the train rolled in. It was very interesting to see...

Race Route

RACE ROUTE.jpg (467.69 KiB) Viewed 8265 times

So we can do with a faster helicopter I think. Both had rocket fuel and the train had a much longer journey/further track than flying straight...

Anyhow, thank you for the awesome mod.

I wish the devs want to steal your mod and make it part of the base game. It fits so well.

[kumpu]

Is there a Helicopter insurance mod? Helicopters are expensive and ...

Note to self: Do not jump out of heli while in forward flight over main base.

Hi kumpu

This is a really fantastic mod you got here. I have been using it for years almost, and it has been in every single playthrough I do. The recent addition of being able to disable inserters is great! It was super annoying to go cleanup everywhere you flew etc.

However, I have a request. Is it possible to add another setting that the chopper do not activate gates? I have a PAX railway system and it triggers the train via the gates. It would be super awesome if the chopper stop affecting the gates causing my personal train to burn that precious fuel so unnecessarily.

On a side note, what is your plan/roadmap? When will the next chopper be due? How about a very small but extremely nifty/quick/responsive and very controllable. I could do with that. But a war chopper with an artillery cannon on would be super cool too.

So by the way, I raced my personal train the other day and at current state of researches with rocket fuel they both arrived exactly the same time. When chopper started to land the train rolled in. It was very interesting to see...

Race Route

RACE ROUTE.jpg

So we can do with a faster helicopter I think. Both had rocket fuel and the train had a much longer journey/further track than flying straight...

Anyhow, thank you for the awesome mod.

I wish the devs want to steal your mod and make it part of the base game. It fits so well.

Thanks
No idea what PAX means, but I'll see if you can deactivate gates.
Current plan is to add scout and attack helis. That's probably the next release, but I can't say when. Scout is entirely new, and attack basically a reskin of the current one + some stat changes. After that there are some feature requests I'm gonna do. I'd also like to fix a lot of the issues you get when you have to abuse and layer entities. But there's not always a solution.
That small and agile heli you describe is exactly what the scout will be. It's pretty much done, here you can see how it's gonna look.
Attack will get a bit slower, but upgunned. The idea in mind here is that it will be a flying tank.
A cargo variant is planned as well. A while ago someone suggested that helis could become a new transport infrastructure and in that regard it would fit together nicely.

And yeah, I also wished the devs would steal it. There's only so much I can do with a mod and I think the base game would really benefit from better personal transport.

[AndrewIRL]

No idea what PAX means

PAX is short for passenger outside Factorio, but many people on the forums here have redefined it as "player access".

So it is a train system for players to get around the base quickly. My suggestion would be to forget about getting around the base in trains, rip up all his PAX stations and enjoy the magic and wonder of FLIGHT!


Any word on that insurance?

Note to self: Do not place helipads close to assembly machines, helis take time to reach altitude.

[BHakluyt]

Hi Andrew

I would say your best bet for "insurance" is to research and use the remote control rather...

Note: Do not run out of fuel on a distant island hundreds of kilometers with base and no backup chopper to call. Maybe to have a backup is a good idea I must consider.
Also note not to jump out or run out of fuel over water, the both of you will go down. (Lately it seems you can't jump out of the chopper over water by accident of hitting ENTER key.

PAX rail does have its upsides too. Its nice to have personal transport almost everywhere something important is done on my map, whether its a train or car or chopper. Freedom of choice. It is my planet after all...

BTW, the new exploration chopper looks fantastic! Just how I imagined it. Can I take your day job over for you for a week so that you can finish the addition please?

[kumpu]

No idea what PAX means

PAX is short for passenger outside Factorio, but many people on the forums here have redefined it as "player access".

So it is a train system for players to get around the base quickly. My suggestion would be to forget about getting around the base in trains, rip up all his PAX stations and enjoy the magic and wonder of FLIGHT!


Any word on that insurance?

Note to self: Do not place helipads close to assembly machines, helis take time to reach altitude.

Ah, got it.
Insurance can be achieved by reloading from autosave.

BTW, the new exploration chopper looks fantastic! Just how I imagined it. Can I take your day job over for you for a week so that you can finish the addition please?

Ikr, it looks really nice! Pretty much vanilla standard. However you have to ask zumf to take over his job, as he is doing all the work. He does graphics professionally - I couldn't possibly make this myself.

[AndrewIRL]

With better fuel in trains we get these acceleration/top speed bonuses:

Solid fuel
fuel value/stack: 1250MJ
acceleration: 120%
top speed: 105%

Rocket fuel
fuel value/stack: 2250MJ
acceleration: 180%
top speed: 115%

Nuclear fuel
fuel value/stack: 1210MJ
acceleration: 250%
top speed: 115%

Does that also apply in helis?


My suggestions for the new heli. Since you are introducing a scout heli you could nerf the attack heli a little to make more room for the scout heli in the lineup. Specifically in fuel consumption. I fueled the heli with wood and got surprisingly good flight times.

An attack heli like this one:
MIL Mi-28N Havoc fuel tank:1,720 litres cruise speed:265 km/h range:435 km power:2 × Klimov TV3-117 turboshaft (2,194 shp ea)
burns ~1000 litres/hr and can only travel 435kms

Whereas a small 2 seat trainer/scout like this:
Guimbal Cabri G2 fuel tank:170 litres cruise speed:185 km/h range:680 km power:145hp
burns ~50 litres/hr and makes it 680km (flying a lot slower)


Similarly if you introduce a cargo heli I would suggest nerfing the attack heli's cargo space to make room for the cargo heli in the lineup.


You can look at train speeds to get an idea of how the helis compare. Nuclear fueled trains can hit 298.1 km/h whereas a real world Havoc cruises at 265 km/h with a max speed of 324 km/h. Seems reasonable for a heli to be able to roughly match a nuclear fueled train.

[kumpu]

Don't worry, I'll make each heli distinct. Scout will be for exploring or fast transport, and maybe clearing one or two biter nests while you're there anyway. Attack has medium speed and cargo, but heavy guns for making short work of biter colonies. Cargo is obvious.
So scout/attack speeds are backwards from what you posted but it just makes more sense gameplay wise.
And yeah, at least scout will be faster than nuclear trains.

[AndrewIRL]

I was just using the Heli to get around and the whole spool up, lift off into hover and the glorious sound of the rotor blades beating the air into submission was just amazing. So much detail in this mod, makes it really feel like a heli. The depiction on the map is a little strange but makes it easy to find where you parked!

I use RSO and biters are rare on my map but some decided to attack a remote outpost. Hmm, maybe time to test out the offensive capabilities of this Havoc. Load some Uranium ammo, some rockets and go see how it works.

OH MY GOD! Hovering over water and unleashing torrents of rockets with the rotor blades ripping through the air, Apocalypse now flashbacks. Wow.

New request, pipe in AC/DC Thunderstruck when I an enroute to smoke biters:
US Army Video - Apache Helicopter (ACDC - Thunderstruck)

[kumpu]

I was just using the Heli to get around and the whole spool up, lift off into hover and the glorious sound of the rotor blades beating the air into submission was just amazing. So much detail in this mod, makes it really feel like a heli. The depiction on the map is a little strange but makes it easy to find where you parked!

I use RSO and biters are rare on my map but some decided to attack a remote outpost. Hmm, maybe time to test out the offensive capabilities of this Havoc. Load some Uranium ammo, some rockets and go see how it works.

OH MY GOD! Hovering over water and unleashing torrents of rockets with the rotor blades ripping through the air, Apocalypse now flashbacks. Wow.

New request, pipe in AC/DC Thunderstruck when I an enroute to smoke biters:
US Army Video - Apache Helicopter (ACDC - Thunderstruck)

Don't understand why you're so euphoric, but hey I'm glad you like the mod

[AndrewIRL]

Don't understand why you're so euphoric, but hey I'm glad you like the mod

If you had been running about on the ground kiting biters for literally years and then could suddenly fly above them you'd be euphoric too!

[Rynvar]

Hey, quick bug report. If the helicopter runs out of fuel while being remote controlled to a destination, the game crashes with this error when the helicopter descends and is destroyed by the ground collision.

[kumpu]

Hey, quick bug report. If the helicopter runs out of fuel while being remote controlled to a destination, the game crashes with this error when the helicopter descends and is destroyed by the ground collision.

Thanks for the report, will get that fixed in the next release.

[AndrewIRL]

I fly my helis a lot and frequently crash them due to running out of fuel. Is there a way to refuel them at heli pads? I used an inserter and it refueled nicely but continued until the trunk was full. Is there a way to only fill the tank?

Ideally I'd hook the heli pad up to the circuit network and detect stats like a roboport does. Find out how whether or not a heli is landed at a particular pad and what its cargo/fuel load is. Detect how many helis are on the map, insert new heli into helipad from assembler and have it available for remote control.

Alternately a low fuel alert would be nice, 60 seconds remaining flight time or something.

[kumpu]

I fly my helis a lot and frequently crash them due to running out of fuel. Is there a way to refuel them at heli pads? I used an inserter and it refueled nicely but continued until the trunk was full. Is there a way to only fill the tank?

Ideally I'd hook the heli pad up to the circuit network and detect stats like a roboport does. Find out how whether or not a heli is landed at a particular pad and what its cargo/fuel load is. Detect how many helis are on the map, insert new heli into helipad from assembler and have it available for remote control.

Alternately a low fuel alert would be nice, 60 seconds remaining flight time or something.

I don't think restricting inserters in that way is possible in vanilla. Maaybe you could hack something together but I think making a custom pad refueler would be better.
Circuit I/O is in the back of my mind since, I think it was "evildogbot" suggested making a new transport infrastructure out of helis. Read cargo, fuel, etc and program it to fly to pad X. The problem is that I imagine it to be complicated to implement and it probably requires more ugly workarounds. Well maybe not.

Low fuel alert sounds fun tho. Hmm, I envision some custom cockpit gui with a fuel gauge and some other instruments...

[kumpu]

Since the mod portal upload is broken for me at the moment, here is v0.2.13. Mod portal works now.

Changes:
- Added russian translation (thanks to @IgorLutiy).
- Added Shift+F hotkey to send nearest heli to player.
- Added Shift+G hotkey to open remote gui.
- Added default zoom settings for heli and helipad guis.
Bugfixes:
- Fixed crash when heli destroyed while under remote control (thanks to @Rynvar).
- Reactivate all inserters when heli destroyed, set all newly built inserters to active to prevent zombies (thanks to @tekin).

[IngoKnieto]

Awesome mod, it works really well for me already.

One question though: What's the shortkey, that plays Ride Of The Valkyries?

[kumpu]

Awesome mod, it works really well for me already.

One question though: What's the shortkey, that plays Ride Of The Valkyries?

[IngoKnieto]

Awesome mod, it works really well for me already.

One question though: What's the shortkey, that plays Ride Of The Valkyries?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqtehtSB0LI&t=82s

[kumpu]

Awesome mod, it works really well for me already.

One question though: What's the shortkey, that plays Ride Of The Valkyries?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqtehtSB0LI&t=82s

I know it, but there is no hotkey yet™ .

[skyfan_muk]

Used this quite a bit, and like the usefulness for Big maps!

Had a couple issues that could be addressed in settings/options, since the base functionality is great!

1. Add settings for "auto-land-at-destination" with Helipads set to YES and others NO: crashed several times because the auto-landing took place after I'd moved or was in a bad spot on the map (e.g. biters)
2. Make the "ownership" of a helicopter (for multi-player games) more "sticky" in that the last 'copter you used is the one chosen when re-activating the remote control.
3. I like the new gauges, but on my screen/resolution they are overlapped, making the lower fuel readings tough to see..

Thanks for all the work you put in on this mod, one that made my game much more fun!

Skyfan