[DRG]

This is a quote from the information text that appears when Russian Heavy Helos formations are selelcted in the purchase menu but apply to all nations equally.

Heavy Lift Helicopters*
*
Because of the way the game code interacts with Weight and Carry Capacity, some of the Heavy Lift Helos in the game can pick up and transport any vehicle. In reality they cannot pick up the main battle tanks and like vehicles. We suggest you do not misuse the heavy helos to pick up tanks or other vehicles, or otherwise abuse your fellow PBEMers (or the AI) by the misuse of this carry capacity quirk.*
*
The reason we have allowed the extra carry ability is to enable the carrying of the Ammo Container -- which the game code treats as a vehicle. We have allowed you to carry the Ammo Container as well as troops with the same helicopter. This is the proper use of the expanded carry capacity.*
*
As far as carrying vehicles is concerned, limiting yourself to 2 jeeps or 1 (normal) APC -- without any extra troops -- is in the best interest of fair play.*


In case you wonder why that is it's what we inherited with the code and it's why the weight of most tanks does not match their weight in Tons because "weight" is generally an arbitrary number.

Weight is broken down to a two digit number for most units so anything up to 99 would be usable but to limit vehicles from carrying things they shouldn't a 1xx indicates a vehicle can only "tow" or carry a gun. A 2xx indicates it can carry another vehicle. 2xx is mainly used for barges and Heavy Helicopters etc but the limit we inherited is one byte and one byte is 255 so 255 is the largest thing any unit in this game can carry and that's why no unit in the game weighs more than 55 UNLESS we don't want it carried by any other unit.

I suppose we could go through all 34,888 units in the game ( yes, that's exactly how many there are...) and assign actual ton weights to all the vehicles and make anything weighing over 55 tons 55 but there are more factors involved that just tons when it comes to how much a unit "weighs" in the game. An infantry squad has a weight of zero but the game doesn't read weight for infantry units. It reads "crew" and if the "crew" is 12 that's now much "weight" they have on a Helicopter for example. If the Helo as a carry capacity of 212 it can carry 12 troops or a vehicle or combination of vehicles that weigh 12. It would be rare to see a carry capacity of 212. The big ones generally run around 240 and up and why you will not see a carry capacity for anything in the game higher than 255. If we used actual ton weight for some tanks they couldn't be transported by barges becasue of the 255 limit and that is unchangable.

It's a game. It's not reality. We try to simulate "reality" with the tools we have and sometimes there are unavoidable conflicts. If you want to carry a Leo2 with a Helo you can and in an AI vs Human game I suppose it could be fun but in an PBEM it wouldn't be very amusing to your opponent unless it was agreed on in advance. This has been part of the game since the very beginning and it only becomes an "issue" when someone "re-discovers" it

Don