Heliborne Insertion

Recently helicopters (CH-47, MRH-90, Griffon and Hind) have been given the
ability to transport troops and you can certainly fly helos (either manually or on
routes) to a designated location, “unload” them and then move the helos off and
the troops away. This is detailed in “Heliborne Troops”, a sibling guide to this.

That’s straight forward for a few units but if you want to insert say a Company, it
can be painful.

So assuming you have some Wagner on your “iWhatever” here’s a way to do it on

a larger scale (need to be in the Mission Editor to do this – not, dare I say, “on
the fly” in the game):

Perhaps counter
intuitively, the first
step is to create a
vehicle Troop (here
4 x M1A1 (HA)).

We do this because
rotary assets (helo
or UAV) are only
available as single
units, if created
directly.

However, once we
have a Troop of
vehicles we can
change that to a
Troop of UAV.
We now have 4 x
UAV.

In turn we can then

convert the Troop of
UAV to a Troop of
transport helos
(here MRH-90).

So that’s the first

Platoon’s lift
organised.

Note: The Mil

Symbol updates to
reflect the changes.

Create as many of
these as you need
to lift the insertion
force.

Note: 1 x CH-47
can lift a Platoon
but you need four of
the other transport
helo types to lift a
Platoon.
Next we need to
designate a Custom
Region as our LZ:

Now to spawn the ground forces.

Divide the helo unit

into its individual
helicopters.
Now place the
ground units.

You can give them

routes to follow
once they spawn /
land or leave them
for the player to
control once they
arrive.

Right click on a unit

in the LZ and under
“options” select
“spawn if …”.

Two things to set here.

1. Set “After true, delay by …” to 1 minute (allows for the stick to get off).

2. Set the condition “if unit X is in location Y”.

You need to set a unique condition for each ground unit so it is linked to
an individual helo. Otherwise the loss of one helo will not be accurately
reflected in the size of the ground force inserted into the LZ.

This means that the Section will appear only if a specific helo has made it. So if
only 3 x helos arrive, only 3 x sections appear.

You might find it easier to track if you link units in some sort of order, so here the
Infantry unit 21A is linked to helo 11A.

For the CH-47, you can set the same condition for all four units (because the CH-
47 can carry them all). But of course if the CH-47 is shot down you get no one.
Also for the CH-47 you may want to set “After true, delay by …” to 2 minutes.
Now just aggregate
the helos back
together.

(Right click on helo

select “attach to”
then click on
another helo)

Now for the helicopter routes:

The route in is pretty straight forward (refer Notes below though).

At the waypoint in the LZ suggest you pick a lower altitude (“Set flight height”) to
help with the concealment and to simulate the landing.

On the way out its an “embark if ..” route (so create the route and then go back
and right click on it again to access this choice).

I’ve imposed a delay of 1min 30sec for the helo to loiter in the LZ (otherwise the
ground forces won’t spawn).

Also I’ve linked it to a specific unit (in case you use the same waypoint for
multiple units).

Completed sequence:

- Helos move to LZ and loiter.

- Ground troops spawn and move off on pre designated routes (if set).
- Helos move off.

Notes:

1. Steel Beasts is not a helicopter simulation.

Helos work reasonably well as individual aircraft but when grouped together can
sometimes fly into each other or terrain as they try and keep station with the lead
unit. Depending on the map you are using, weather, time, etc. you may need to
adjust formation, spacing, height, etc. as part of your quality control process.

Remember though too high and you may well start to lose aircraft to ground fire
or OPFOR Attack Helicopters.

2. Since this is an abstracted process it won’t look “right” to people in / near

the LZ. This is another reason why the LZ should be covered from view (say
behind a ridgeline, hill, etc.).

3. You can adjust the “delay by” times to reflect weather, night, high speed
rappelling, etc.

4. A single CH-47 carries a Platoon so look after it!

While it maybe tempting (to reduce the scripting burden) to have 3 x CH-47
insert a Company, if the LZ is not secure or the route is through narrow canyons,
etc. then you can say goodbye to one third of the ground force with every
Chinook you loose.

5. You can use the same process to spawn light vehicles too (not MBTs though) to
reflect the CH-47 cargo capabilities. Just spawn a HMMWV or similar instead of an
Infantry unit. Indeed a CH-47 should be able to carry a Platoon AND a HMMWV.

(rev. 2.650).