3 Commando Brigade

Helmet Mounted Displays, and the Taru Pod Mod

I'm just plopping these here, as one is a fantastic mod that I think adds a lot of piloting, and the other is a neat concept that can add some intriguing new options to tactical operations. Sorry for the lengthy post!


Kimi's HMDs (Helmet Mounted Displays) is a mod created by a good friend of mine who used to be in 161st - Kimi. They add the normal pilot overlays that you'll see if you look at modern military pilot helmets, where information is projected onto the visor itself. This means that instead of having ammo counts etc in little UI windows at the top corners, all of the required information is placed in a realistic fashion consistent with most real-world HMDs around your field of view. The most powerful element in my personal opinion is the addition of a TVV (Total Velocity Vector) marker, as this helps judge small-scale motion far more easily in the absence of direct feedback from your inner-ear as to subtle motions, and lets newer pilots learn to fly more smoothly by "chasing the TVV". But what can I say that couldn't be more easily shown by a video - incidentally, made by another good friend and 161st player, PatchworkHD:



As a point of note, you can select fire rates/modes for weaponry - ie, the AH-6 can swap between 2000 and 5000rpm for its guns, and 1, 2 or 4 rocket salvos. Additionally, gunner cameras flip to ground-tracking mode when you utilise any degree of zoom, so you don't need to worry about constantly correcting the aimpoint slightly as your pilot orbits, for instance. It also adds distinct flare modes (anything from semi auto, through bursts of 8/16 flares with intervals between each pair of flares of 0.125/0.25/0.5/1 seconds), and adds IR Jammers to larger helicopters - they operate for approximately 30 seconds, then have a cooldown of a few minutes.



Anyway, on to the Taru Pod Mod. This mod is far easier to explain, as it simply adds the functionality that the Taru should have had from the beginning: the ability to attach and detach the various utility pods built for it. If you're not familiar, the Taru is a coaxial utility helo that was added with the Helo DLC, and is basically a CH-54 Tarhe with the coaxial rotors of a Ka-226. It came with a bunch of different versions - one "naked", one with medical, one with ammo, one with repair etc etc, and also a series of the module pods that provided these functions... but Bohemia being Bohemia, the naked Taru could only slingload the pods below itself looking really janky in the process. TPM adds the ability to properly attach the pods onto the naked Taru, and then to either release them at a required position or paradrop them. The ability to paradrop a pod of section supplies, or a vehicle repair/resupply station into the AO would be a) cool, and b) really friggen useful Oh, and did I mention it comes with an 8-man bench-seat module that can also be paradropped?



Sadly, the video doesn't display paradrop, but it works simply enough - when above a certain altitude, detaching the pod will cause a parachute to open after a few seconds and slow the fall to safe levels. The helo is in CSAT colours by default, but the JNS Skycranes mod is entirely compatible with TPM, and adds in NATO-coloured variants. The only issue I can consider with this mod really, is that the pilot must own the Helo DLC - although passengers don't have to.

Hi Nick...

We actually already use Kimi's Hud - it's being built into our vehicles I believe (subject to testing).

Unlikely we'd use Taru Pod Mod on the core servers - we try and avoid Vanilla kit where we can - seeking some level of authenticity helps with the immersion for me and makes it all a little less gamey.

Keep up the good suggestions though

Modified versions of Kimi's HUD - modified with his full permission - WILL appear in the forthcoming 3CB Apache and Wildcats, and ultimately the 3CB Chinooks, Merlins and hopefully a Puma as well.

Goddamn beautiful Now about getting the flares back on the H-6 airframe...

By H6 do you mean the littlebird?  If so, sorry we're concentrating on the core BAF helos

Yeah, it's the basic milspec airframe the transport and CAS birds are built over. And if you implement the HMDs, it should bring flares with it automatically to the A/MH-9. But no worries, either way - I generally love the modset, and I'll just be pleased to see where stuff goes

As Evrik mentioned we're concentrating on 4-5 BAF helos.  One of our design goals is not to impact other equipment, especially vanilla, with our changes.  Otherwise there can be a knock-on effect that could potentially screw up other mods.  So the HMDs will be limited to our helos.  

On the subject of countermeasures you may be interested to know we have several release patterns for flares and chaff, as well as active jammers on the helos.