Newbie q: Tips on finding targets?

[5p.]

So I just picked this up not too long ago.

Now I'm decent at actually flying the helicopter on Realistic (even finished the Courier mission - although I did clip through the ship when landing on it :D ) - but absolutely crap at finding ground targets.

I've done the shooting range mission a few times and familiarized myself with the Shkval, but actually using it to find and lock on to targets is damn hard. When I try the patrol mission, I get my tail handed to me every time because I can't find the enemy convoy, and by the time I see them I'm staring a wall of bullets in the face.

I also tried the "quickstart" strike mission, and ended up not getting a single kill because I couldn't find the targets. (I did dodge five Iglas without using flares...)

So how exactly do you locate ground targets without getting shot to pieces in the process? Any tips?

[EtherealN]

The "simple", and unfortunately not so funny, tip is practice. Takes a bit of training to get your "scanning" skills down. Take it careful, be aware of the terrain, and try to keep distance. (And yeah, the convoy mission is evil, it killed me a couple times at first as well. :P )

Try to find ways to use the terrain - for example, if there is obstructiuons to your view on a road where the convoy might be, go around so you can observe the road from a distance - and always always scout out any terrain you are heading to carefully.

[5p.]

Thanks! I'll give it another shot (or twenty) and see if I can actually get the hang of this target-finding thing.

[EtherealN]

Another tip would be to always save the track file and review the missions, see if you can find what you did wrong - did you forget to "scan" (mark 1 eyeball being the most important - it's very easy to find yourself sitting "head down" in the cockpit and forgetting other parts of the environment), did you drift too close to the target, etcetera.

If you notice many mistakes, select one or two that you will practice. If you have a list of 10 things to practice, the only result is that you'll oversaturate your head and not get better at any of them.