Humour aside, it was interesting to monitor the vote. The MH-6 Little Bird is the iconic light helicopter made famous by 'war' movies like 'Black Hawk Down', small, nimble and can pack a punch.
The percentage split between the Little Bird and the Kiowa settled in pretty quick, with the Kiowa maintaining 68% on average. To keep it simple, 30% to 70% split in favour of the Kiowa helicopter.
The vote was started as I wanted to gauge the level of interest, at Tricubic there's a desire to add a light helicopter and the MH-6 was at the top of the list for a number of reasons, I'm not a fan of this one but clearly there are a few. More than I thought.
I conclude there's a lot of fine Longbow 2 fans frequenting my blog. I never liked how this helicopter was presented in Longbow. If we do implement such a helicopter at a future date it would have to deliver some new game mechanic.
So if you voted for this (or voted against on principle and didn't like the second choice). Please add your comments below.
Frankly I'm surprised the MH-6/AH-6 even came close in the poll. We're talking about a helicopter that doesn't even have a gunsight on a blog frequented by diehard avionics fans.
ReplyDeleteWith it's novelty avionics pod and tight-nit relationship with the AH-64D it's no surprise that the Kiowa came up shining. Longbow fans are definitely in the majority here but in the mainstream the MH-6/AH-6 has been much more widely 'marketed'. Hollywood and AAA games have featured it frequently and it's a well-loved Heli in the ArmA community (which may well become a source for fans in the future).
There's room in the CH universe for both the Kiowa and Littlebird, but with the wide variety of Littlebirds (MH-6, MH-6H, AH-6C, AH-6J, AH-6M(MELB), AH-6S, A/MH-6X, EH-6E) we have a much wider potential for low-cost DLC.
Talking of DLC, Thirdwire's DLC store is really kicking off and it's a really great example of how even the conservative (old fashioned?) Sim community like the micro payments model.
In the short term it'll be a much sounder move to put out a better known helicopter with a more exciting roll and back it up with a whole range of interesting modifications and upgrades that we can profit off of. It'll be a bird to fly when you're tired of hitting switches and watching FLIR screens.
Cheers
I think that this voting does not really matter.Most people that voted no idea about these helicopters,and voted completely random.
ReplyDeleteI voted for the Kiowa because I want to see Billie Lee Guthrie piloting in the cockpit. ;-) Every game/sim have the Little Bird so I welcome a change and want to see the Kiowa instead. The Apache without the Longbow mast (will this be optional or do we have all Apaches with the mast?) would need to have a scout heli. Plus, it`s just an option for the future and you know: "EVERYTHING IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE". *grin
ReplyDeleteWhy the hell am I even having to argue my case....Something has gone horribly wrong.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in Iraq for 14 months, nearly every night I had two KW's at my disposal for air support. That bird save our backside more times than I can count. It definitely has a special place in my heart. It is very capable at the CAS role. As a matter of fact, when things were in close, we/I preferred the KW in the knife fight of a fire fight rather than the -64. We also used the KW to assist in clearing our routes into and out of the AO, To assist in preventing us from getting ambushed, as well as observation missions. The bird is definitely a hunter/killer.
ReplyDeleteI also voted for the Kiowa and personally I enjoy the Kiowa very much! For me it was very challenging playing with it in Jane's Longbow 2 while scouting for targets and fire at one or two best targets.
ReplyDeleteIMO, what makes the OH-58 Kiowa a best helicopter than the AH/OH-6 Little Bird is that the Kiowa usually works in conjunction with Apache scouting targets for the later one or simply executing scout/light attack mission alone. Also the OH-58 Kiowa is an integral part of the US Army "conventional" helicopter inventory while the AH/OH-6 Little Bird is resumed to the US Army "special forces" helicopter inventory therefore IMO the OH-58 Kiowa makes more sense for a combat helicopter simulator which models an ongoing war/dynamic campaign like Combat Helo will be.
But that's of course my humble oppinion...
I was tempted to vote for the Littlebird, I'll admit. But in the end I voted for the Kiowa/Warrior, if only because I think that between the two, it is the one less represented today.
ReplyDeleteThe Kiowa is still widely used today and from what I've read, it often ended up providing CAS for ground forces when Apaches were not readily avaiable. And it's a great helo to support the Apache.
The Littlebird is a neat helo with a lot of variants, but it would probably deserve its own expansion, with missions tailored for the various variants (I'd actually love flying a few special forces insertion/extraction flights, honestly).
Hmmmm... I voted for the little bird due to its peppy handling ( Its also a blast to fly in Spec Ops teams in ARMA). After reading the very informative and experienced opinions here, I would now vote for the kiowa. I didnt know it had attack capabilites, thought it was just for scouting.
ReplyDeleteNot sure about Afghanistan but in Iraq, the KW flew more hours than the -64 and I believe the -60. I know from experience that we lost a few KW's during fire fights because they got in close and helped the ground pounders when they were in contact. Yeah the -6 has the "Blackhawk Down", and Spec Ops cool factor, but the -58 is the workhorse in terms of CAS for Army Aviation. At least in my experience.
ReplyDeletePlus, you have the option of deploying a pink team (-64, and -58) as a hunter:killer team. Too many options for the -58 over the -6.
Definitely not a misguided love for the -58! LOL!
IMHO, there are plenty of other Helicopter choices out there other than Kiowa, Little bird and general american made equipment. How about NH-90 which also opens a new dimension of experience that we had barelly seen before, or maybe the Eurocopter Tiger or Mangusta?
ReplyDeleteBah, the OH-58 Kiowa should have been replaced years ago now. Excuse me while I weep for the RAH-66 in the corner.
ReplyDeleteOf course the Army screwed up the "off-the-shelf" ARH-70 too.
The OH-58 is not my first choice but seems to be the popular one. The Little Bird seems to be more appropriate for what we want in terms of a little sports car to zip around in.
ReplyDeleteEurocopter would only happen if contracted to build one, I don't think it's popular enough to justify the time and expense in building it. It's not a hobby project, everything here has to be paid for one way or another sadly :/ usually out of my own pocket.
Thanks for the continued opinions of the topic. We do pick up on them and chat about points raised from time to time.