"The all-in-one wishlist" topic about crashed helicopters.

[Gordon Axeman 191]

Hello everyone. The topic of events, and particularly crashed helicopters is very interesting in this game. I did a couple topics before, but as there are lots of aspects in this topic, something was always left behind. So, I finally decided to make a large, deep thread about the heli crashes. Some of the ideas were mine, some I took from the community. Thx to their authors anyway. Please don't post "this was suggested a million times" stuff. Most is new, but if I miss things that are beaten to death, the picture won't be complete. 

That was a little beginning word. Now let's start the main suggestions section.

1) Rarity. 

This is a VERY hot topic in DayZ. Many think there is too much of the crashed choppers, so their loot is not as rare as it should be. I agree.

So, there must be 1-2 choppers per server (2 on rare occasions). But they should yield much more loot. Spawned upon restart. Writing about the places in the next point.

Some possible Q&A:

Q: Players with helis will easily find these and take all the loot. 

A: It won't be easy anyway. First, you have to fly over not some definite areas (as of now), but the whole island. Second, large groups will probably fight for that chopper. Third, if you manage to find it and there are no hostiles around, it could be in a forest or somewhere else tight. It will take time to get there. This all is if you manage not to get killed in your chopper on the way.

Q: But lots of loot there is OP anyway! There will be no effect. Clans will take everything!

A: Fortune favours the brave. Get a car and team up with someone, and good luck in your searches! If you want to be a great lone bandit, like your Makarov.

2) Spawning (geography).

First of all, the crashed chopper may spawn ANYWHERE. Even at one of the Chernarussian islands (ohoh that would be fun!). It should even be able to spawn at cities and forests. But never in the water, this will make it unreachable.

Q&A:

Q: The loot will bug in cities and forests (many objects)

A: A game should never take in bugs and hackers. These are issues and not part of the gameplay.

Q: A chopper fallen in Elektro will cause a massacre!

A: Maybe. It's not all that easy. Here everyone has a chance to win, because shooters have to think of zombies ;)

3) Design.

About the forests and cities first. A boar understands that we'll need a heli crash surrounding system. E.g. if it spawns in a house, the house should be trashed and the chopper be lying nearby. In the forest the trees should be fallen around the crash, making a short straight line in the forest. The crash itself is in the end of the line. Also in every environment the crash should live trails on the ground. Maybe burning and smoke in first 2 hours, though I'm not sure (the search should be hard).

Around the heli 2-3 bodies should be scattered (more in the loot section). And some cosmetic design like windows completely broken, all crushed inside, more detailed pilot corpses, etc. Sometimes the chopper can even be torn into pieces. That may help at non-flat surfaces. That's just the immersive stuff.

Q&A:

Q: What if it crashes at an important building (barracks etc.)?

A: Won't be a problem. There are no unique buildings in the map. And the chance is miserable.

4) Loot.

As said before, a heli crash should yield a lot of high-grade gear. Now I can't figure out where are the crew's weapons. There should be about 6 men onboard (2 pilots and 4 passengers is okay for any transporter). We can see about 3 weapons on every crash, only primary, not always with ammo. WTF?! You want realism - let it be.

 I think there should be a primary and a secondary weapon at every corpse, some with backpacks and additional gear (GPS, NVG, toolbox, etc.). However, nearly 1/2 of items can spawn "broken" (like on Namalsk). Packs and tools like GPS and NVG can't be repaired, while any guns can be repaired by applying "gun parts" (rare military item) on them. Ammo, medicine etc. can't be broken. Weapons must come with ammo (3-5 mags). Some medical supplies and food are located under the seats of the chopper (detached gear section, high chance) and in the tail (low chance). A soldier skin could spawn in the loot.

All the crew weapons should be distributed by such scheme:

2 corpses - usual soldiers, assault rifle/pistol, 50% chance of additional gear. 

1 corpse - gunner, LMG/pistol, 75% chance of additional gear. 

1 corpse - sniper, sniper rifle/pistol, 75% chance of additional gear.

2 corpses - pilots, pistol, 75% chance of additional gear.

Q&A:

Q: Such loots of loot?! IT'S NOT HARSH SURVIVAL!!!!!!!!!!!!

A: Calm down buddy. First, try finding that chopper. Second, even with a great rifle you won't live forever. An AS50 sniper is often hatchet-killed. Third, you'll need a camp to store these weapons and gear, and it can be robbed. So, hard to get, hard to keep... Soon all that stuff will be divided between several more players.

5) Zombies.

Everything is simple here. After a crash it's hard to keep your head literally, so there should be 1-2 zombies only. They are twice as tough as usual as normal zombies (body armour), do not care about pistol shots (the same) and hard to shoot in the head (helmet). Contain the same loot as dead bodies. 

Q&A:

Q: 2 zombies? What for?

A: Why not? Immersive ;)

6) Crash types.

I suggest American and Russian. American are these which are already in the game, about the Russian I'm telling now.

It's logical for Russia to send recon groups to an Eastern country, huh? So a crashed heli may be Russian. They are somewhat like these in DayZero, Namalsk, etc. This idea was realised on private hives a long time ago.

A quick loot list:

AK-107 PSO (SVD scope)

SVD (non-camo and camo versions!)

AN-94 "Abakan" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AN-94) - uses AK-74 mags

OC-14 "Thunder" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OC-14-4A) - uses AKM mags

AK-74 Kobra with GP-25 grenade launcher (analog of m4a1 holo m203)

PKM (http://en.wikipedia..../PK_machine_gun) - night vision scope version 

available too

AS VAL (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AS_Val) - ammo spawning at choppers and in barracks, mags can be recombined for VSS (1x 20rnd. Val -->2x 10rnd. VSS and vice versa).

VSS "Vintorez" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VSS_Vintorez) Suppressed sniper rifle, ammo spawning at the choppers only and in barracks. Will add a lot to the game.

About the technics now. Any other weapons are not spawned. Loot piles should remain the same, but American ammo is replaced with Russian ones. 

Such chopper may spawn along with an American one, if server spawns 2 helis. The chance of spawning one of two kinds is 50/50 (50% for UH-1Y and 50% for Mi-8).

Q&A:

Q: Won't be too many good weapons? 

A: No. For example, you may have an m4 sd OR val. M16 acog OR AK PSO.

And this doesn't mean doubling the choppers' loot after all. Their number will remain the same.

7) Background story (not sure about that).

Maybe adding a flight journal into the pilots' cabin? So you can take it and look some pre-history and expedition targets. Perhaps a map with markers, some scientfic text etc. Some important places may be torn, blooded, burnt etc. so the curtain of mystery is moved, but not removed.

A radio may be added, so you can hear transmissions from the chopper every  3 hours. Maybe even talk back, but the army will always talk you off. Like "Trespassers on the line, drop the channel! pshhhhhsshhhhhh..."

Q&A:

Q: Why not to make army take you away after receiving the transmission?

A: This is a survival sandbox game. There is only one thing that can end the game - your death.

Community addings

CptMugwash suggested that heli crashes should attract naturally spawned zombies in certain radius around them.

Chabowski suggested making the heli spawn rate 0-1. Still not sure about it, but it could be a good experimental feature to make people search an unexistent thing.

For now that's all I can think about. Comment and write your opinions, share beans! The topic will grow with your ideas, help me to make it better and full!

Edited November 22, 2012 by Kpekep2

[DemonGroover 8836]

I think you'll find that the heli crashes are British - and yes there is a difference.

I would like crashes of all types, helis, planes, ambulances, Coca Cola van, Baked Bean truck, Blow Up Doll minivan to be more varied and to be found anywhere logical.

Nicely put together

[decoman 45]

Just a thought: maybe there could be a few armed npc survivors around the crash site, being either wounded, or alert possibly being a hazard to people approaching. Survivors could approach without being hurt while bandits would be fired upon. :)

[Gordon Axeman 191]

I think you'll find that the heli crashes are British - and yes there is a difference.

I would like crashes of all types, helis, planes, ambulances, Coca Cola van, Baked Bean truck, Blow Up Doll minivan to be more varied and to be found anywhere logical.

Nicely put together

I would like it too. But here we are talking about the helicopters.

Just a thought: maybe there could be a few armed npc survivors around the crash site, being either wounded, or alert possibly being a hazard to people approaching. Survivors could approach without being hurt while bandits would be fired upon. :)

I think no. Rocket said there will never be any NPC's. And anyway, they got zombified in mid-flight, still in the air.

Thanks for your support everyone!

Edited November 21, 2012 by Kpekep2

[Michaelvoodoo25 3120]

A post recently brought up the idea of not only choppers, but Military convoys and such. Problem with chopper crash sites is if they crash on uneven land you can't reach the loot sometimes, so they will have to spawn on flat land. The tent duping issue caused mass amounts of rare equipment, allowing all players who stumbled across the tents automatically kitted out through the server life. This alone broke the game.

Another problem is when people loot the choppers they usually have overwatch or fellow team members looking out, not suitable for lone wolves. Teams will always find the choppers first as they know where to look with the current spawn locations. Making them random means more out of normal places and having to ensure they spawn correctly. Once a team has a base of operations they just pile up loot and vehicles and then repeat the routine. Not very equal footing.

I say less choppers and more other loot points

[enforcer1975 1111]

Another One asking for more military loot... A suggestion above top add variaty ti loot Spots is great, Luke different types of vehicles. Why is there never a food truck. I would rather expect food convoys into disaster zones than weapon convoys just as an example.

[Gordon Axeman 191]

A post recently brought up the idea of not only choppers, but Military convoys and such. Problem with chopper crash sites is if they crash on uneven land you can't reach the loot sometimes, so they will have to spawn on flat land. The tent duping issue caused mass amounts of rare equipment, allowing all players who stumbled across the tents automatically kitted out through the server life. This alone broke the game.

Another problem is when people loot the choppers they usually have overwatch or fellow team members looking out, not suitable for lone wolves. Teams will always find the choppers first as they know where to look with the current spawn locations. Making them random means more out of normal places and having to ensure they spawn correctly. Once a team has a base of operations they just pile up loot and vehicles and then repeat the routine. Not very equal footing.

I say less choppers and more other loot points

1-2 per server is too much? Don't think so.

About the flat platforms: I don't know if ArmA engine allows bodies to lie parallelly to the surface, or straight only. Reworking the model may help, but if the second is true... The whole aspect nearly goes destroyed.

[CptMugwash 16]

The amount of zombies around a crashed chopper would be a lot more then 2, the amount of noise it would make would attract atleast 12 but these would be normal zombies with 1 or 2 military ones who have heard/seen the chopper crash and travelled to the location, spread out milling around, some could be feasting on the passenger's corpses too. The amount of loot that's been suggested is a bit much, weapons could be damaged or destroyed from the crash so would be useless unless repairable.

[Gordon Axeman 191]

The amount of zombies around a crashed chopper would be a lot more then 2, the amount of noise it would make would attract atleast 12 but these would be normal zombies with 1 or 2 military ones who have heard/seen the chopper crash and travelled to the location, spread out milling around, some could be feasting on the passenger's corpses too. The amount of loot that's been suggested is a bit much, weapons could be damaged or destroyed from the crash so would be useless unless repairable.

This can be implemented, but only if the crash is located near a town/village. Thanks for that ;)

[enforcer1975 1111]

The crash sights should be placed by the engine itself and not by a fixed marker to make the loot maps useless and finding a helo more a matter of luck than systematicly searching the spots on the map and hoping one is there. You can have the mission filter forest and water zones so it won't place them there and even around towns. But it should be random to make it as fair as possible for everyone.

[mr_chabowski@live.co.uk 2416]

With the amount of loot drops you suggest (primary and sidearms for 6 + the cargo) there should be only a very small chance to find anything in decent working order.

**Choppers should be seen as salvage, not "best loot". The husk of the chopper is a smouldering wreck. Everything should be in pretty bad nick.

I still think if you know there's definitely at least 1 heli crash on every server restart, that means they're too common.

EDIT: Just to be clear. **The weapons should still potentially be of high quality, but they should be in pretty bad condition.

Edited November 21, 2012 by Chabowski

[Gordon Axeman 191]

With the amount of loot drops you suggest (primary and sidearms for 6 + the cargo) there should be only a very small chance to find anything in decent working order.

**Choppers should be seen as salvage, not "best loot". The husk of the chopper is a smouldering wreck. Everything should be in pretty bad nick.

I still think if you know there's definitely at least 1 heli crash on every server restart, that means they're too common.

EDIT: Just to be clear. **The weapons should still potentially be of high quality, but they should be in pretty bad condition.

Nearly 1/2 only. There must be a reward at last... I made them choppers really hard to find.

[Gordon Axeman 191]

Broken loot changes written into the post. Thanks Chabowski.

About definite spawn of choppers: it has to be present, the element of completely random positioning will do its part. Included into Community section anyway, as it could be interesting: looking hard for something unexistent.

Edited November 22, 2012 by Kpekep2

[the LawsOfFire 20]

i like this idea. take my beans

[seddrik 44]

Cookie truck. Chocolate chip. That is all.

Edited November 22, 2012 by Seddrik

[Gordon Axeman 191]

i like this idea. take my beans

Thanks a lot!

Cookie truck. Chocolate chip. That is all.

Hahah ;)

[Ikar (DayZ) 7]

I think it would be great if helicopter crash sites don't simply pop out in the enviroment, instead they could crash into the ground with a short scriptet scene, maybe with a short radio message

Edit:

I'll wrap up the ideas to quote them into another threat about helis

1. does it fit into the lore:

[..]

And about that "this is a zombie apocalypse where there are only survivors and no army"... well there are survivors, who do find helis and fly them, u dont need to aks for the reasons or the background story, as we are all providing it: everyone who flew with a chopper for fun, to kill or have fun with friends did provide a background story for why there are ppl flying around.

the defeat of an army doesn't involve that every single solider is already dead. there can be survivers along for a few reasons:

- the helicopter wasn't at the base while a zombie attack.

- the soliders managed to flee from the attack.

- they are deserters.

2. why they crash:

One of the crew member is infectet with the zombie virus and attacks the other's this results in death of the pilot and the rest of the crew. there could be a radio message like a sos message:

[...] in the message could be a communication between the heli crew in which some of them turn into zombies and attack the other crew member and infect them.

[...]

the/ a message can trigger (with a 40 50 % chance) when the helicopter crashes

3. why should they crash:

[..] loads of servers restart the game only to respawn the crash sites. maybe the crash sites could be reseted every few hours or something, and the new heli(s) could get the animations

4. where can they crash:

at the moment they can crash there were they actually do, at plain terrain:

5. how do they crash:

[..] Scripted helis [may fly] around chernarus ( make it very rarely if u want ) that dont contain any npcs, but crash somewhere [..]

The aim: people would see a chopper fly around, get in cover as it MIGHT be a group of players who are up to shooting everything up theyll see below, or it MIGHT be on of the scripted helis crashing so -> worth running towards where hes flying and maybe finda crash site with nice stuff. Of course it might aswell be a group of players that crashed, so youre never really sure [..]

They will "loose" controll of the chopper and crash. there will be a few scriptet animations controlling where they crash into (see point 4)

so what do you think about this idea.

Edited November 22, 2012 by Ikar

[Gordon Axeman 191]

......

I have written all of this here...