Guild Wars 2

The Charr Helicopters have bugged me for a while now, partially because I’m a nerd and partially because I have a friend who’s a former Army Helicopter pilot.

The biggest problem with them is they don’t have any counter rotation. They should be spinning out of control! I know that artistically/aesthetically they look like they do because to give them a tail rotor would make them look far too much like real world helicopters, but I still wonder how they stay stable?

Also, they have no landing gear and no visible means of loading/unloading passengers and cargo. How do you get in and are they expected to just stay in flight forever?

I always figured those claw-like things at the bottom were used for landing. The other stuff, I dunno off the top of my head – would need to look at an in-game helicopter.

The game has its own universe, and might even have slightly different laws of physics than us. And there is always the use of magic.. Asuran golems work on magic, the helicopters might also make use of magic to keep from falling… I know Charr aren’t really magic users, but it must be considered as well.

Aardwolf.6085:

The game has its own universe, and might even have slightly different laws of physics than us. And there is always the use of magic.. Asuran golems work on magic, the helicopters might also make use of magic to keep from falling… I know Charr aren’t really magic users, but it must be considered as well.

That’s a lore-ish way of putting it! And I agree, it could be magic that keeps it afloat

Magic makes sense in this case, TBH. The helicopters – just like the improved submarines and airships – are made by the Pact using multiple races’ technology (specifically charr, human, and asura). The asura – and to a lesser degree, humans – have a lot of levitating structures, so using that kind of magic in conjunction with charr propulsion systems could be keeping it afloat and stable.

I think there has been theory’s and tests of a spinning counterweight in the helicopter to counteract the spin instead of the tail rotor. Due to the tail roto being far more easier it is never used commercially but it could solve the problem.

mercury ranique.2170:

I think there has been theory’s and tests of a spinning counterweight in the helicopter to counteract the spin instead of the tail rotor. Due to the tail roto being far more easier it is never used commercially but it could solve the problem.

“Magic” is too easy an explanation. Ask an Asura how their magic works, and if you’re awake at the end of the 3 hour lecture it’ll make sense! Spinning Counterweights make sense!

Yeah, the design itself seems to be char engineering based off of sylvari’s whirlgig elevators. It seems reasonable that the asura added some sort of mystitechnic gyrostabilizer.

As for loading and unloading, I think they just use a rope or rope ladder. There’s a field hospital in the Straits of Devastation where a helicopter unloads injured soldiers every couple minutes, though they only drop down a single rope for these people to climb down and then hobble into a cot (which might not work for someone with two injured legs).

Granted, the DE there has to be completed before they show up, and we don’t get to see the injured soldiers slide onto the ground from the helicopter. They just… appear, on the ground.

They could just add another rotor and it would be fine (see: the Ka-50). I don’t think it had anything to do with looking too much like real world helicopters. Even with a tail rotor, the thing still would still look very bizarre!

Also, I remember a less-developed gyro-copter in one of the charr zones. I don’t remember which one, but there’s an engineer by it and she tells you that everyone says she’s crazy for trying to build a flying machine. Anyway, I think that one had a tail rotor.

i think it was in the fields of ruin or the iron marches that a chopper with a rotor in the back is sitting there until a DE kicks off where a charr trys flying it

It’s in Field of Ruins, on the east side of the area, I beleive. Rats, I didn’t know a DE kicked off – I gotta start interacting more. I guess I was too suprised to come around the hill and see a chopper sitting there.

You are right, I remember running into it a few days ago in the Fields of Ruins.

The copter in the fields of ruin had two top-mounted rotors and both spun clockwise. They also had a bunch of spines on the rotor tips for some reason (maybe to create more drag..?).

The charr choppers are probably the most comical “technology” design in the game. One of the problems (nothing to prevent counterrotation) is mentioned above. Some other problems:

The aspect ratio (width of the rotor compared to the body) is small. Much of the thrust is blown on to the body, negating the lift.

The blades are tilted downward. Note: they are not blades with a flexible joint, they are bent downwards. The reason they design wings this way is to reduce stability if a plane is so stable it has toruble turning. So the charr built it this way, apparently, so the choppers are easier to crash.

The downward bent blades also increase the stress on the blade since the blades are always being pulled out to be straight. The Charr apparently designed the rotor of their combat aircraft to make it easier for enemies to shoot off the rotor.

Also, I am not sure if they can alter the pitch of blades built like that without them losing all their lift (altering blade pitch is how helicopters tilt and maneuver). This would mean the choppers are designed to tumble and fall when they try to change their pitch or roll.

I must conclude that Tyrian physics are weird (this certainly would not be the only case of bizzare physics) or that the choppers are magical devices that happen to look like helicopters.

Let’s not even get into how the Charr built a compact, light enough steam engine to power a helicopter. Normally helicopter engines are air cooled to save weight, and these guys have engines that use water as a propellant!

Well, if I remember right, it’s been stated that charr technology isn’t steam powered, though how it’s powered is unknown to me. But I do have to say that what you are seeing in Fields of Ruin is a prototype. The guy building it even talks about the other people calling him crazy for doing it. So more than likely the guy’s gonna learn from a few crash landings before helping the pact build what we see down in Orr. Obviously they aren’t perfect, but in the end it is a video game, and a little bit of suspension of disbelief isn’t too much to ask.

They have a charr warrior inside spinning in the opposite direction.

From what I’ve seen of them they don’t work well at all. The 2 times I’ve come across them in game they were crashed…or in the process of crashing

@Narcemus: Interviews pre-release said they work on clockwork technology (springs and gears and such), but there’s a charr in the Black Citadel talking about an alternate energy source besides steam powered.

@Rehashed: A good number of the crash, but that’s because they’re shot down.

Interior large high-powered gyroscope. Probably in the base of the craft. Spinning in the opposite direction of the blades. The speed of rotation is synched up with the blades for perfect balance.

Obviously.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

@Narcemus: Interviews pre-release said they work on clockwork technology (springs and gears and such), but there’s a charr in the Black Citadel talking about an alternate energy source besides steam powered.

Clockwork? Lol, I would love to see the torsion spring that can power a helicopter.

As I said, Charr technology is magical.

With the amount of tar and oil the Flame Legion can summon up at will, often to try and clog up the other legions water supply, the Charr could easily be running gas or kerosines.

I like the fact that whenever something is illogical or hard to explain, the answer is always magic.

Penguin.5197:

I like the fact that whenever something is illogical or hard to explain, the answer is always magic.

The funny thing is, it’s a fantasy game… the whole thing is illogical and hard to explain

I think the answer to all this is: imagination.

Handslapping inquiries about how something works with an answer “magic” is never appropriate. It’s the same if you asked why, say, a nutrient helps you, you’d get the answer “chemicals”. It just doesn’t cover. Even for magic there’s more depth to it, and if not, there should be.