The Cygnus II is VHI's first entry into the rotorcraft arena. The original Cygnus was an autogyro - an aircraft which flies forward in a manner similar to that of an airplane, and uses an unpowered rotor to generate most of its lift. The Cygnus II is still an autogyro, but with its rotor clutch, it can also hover and maneuver like a helicopter. It operates in either 3rd-person or mouselook. I'm also throwing in wing-mounted miniguns, in case you might like to shoot particles or physical bullets. This doesn't work with Cubey Terra's or Jillian Callahan's combat systems.

Numerous Cygnus II owners have told me that it's their favorite vehicle. It doesn't have the appearance or advanced physics of my newer stuff, but it's FUN! It's currently priced at L$50. This is partially because it's quite old, and partially because I want to put something out there that's a bit "entry level" and yet better in quality than the Slipstream II or Skylark.

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Features Comes with the VHI FC HUD Handling is moderately responsive, designed for easy flying Physics can be set to easy or realistic Autogyro- and helicopter-specific flight physics make for a unique and rewarding flight experience Smooth controls Operates in 3rd-person and mouselook Six throttle settings plus six-stage afterburner Adjustable camera Max speed is ~170 knots, max recommended is 120 (this will increase as the grid becomes more stable) VHI standard HUD, which can be turned off (if, for example, you want to use the VHI FC instead) Twin wing-mounted miniguns that fire either particles or physical bullets Custom, smooth engine sounds Voice commands and touch menu system Color change system Amphibious - can operate from water Chassis type: Anser Vehicle dynamics family: Halcyon II (VHI rev. II+) New in the Cygnus II VHI Flight Computer added to the Cygnus II's inventory Touch menu system Mouselook control added (sound FX volume is lowered automatically; cockpit lower half goes semi-transparent for better visibility for landings, etc.) Physics updated to a reentrant integration model, which has several implications for how the aircraft responds under various conditions - it now has more of that great, quirky autogyro behavior! I was able to add helicopter behavior very easily, because the rotor is emulated much, much more realistically. I got the idea for this model from reading about the human brain, and it works a bit like a crude neural network. (No, this isn't AI.) Rotor strike detection added - this will idle the throttle. It can be turned off as well. Prerotation support added. (Lets you manually prerotate the rotor for a nice short rolling takeoff.) Afterburner sound has been updated Several new colors have been added, and all colors have been sorted by "chroma" or whatever it's called Jump takeoff routine is completely rewritten to take advantage of the new physics model. It will not work quite the same as it did in the original Cygnus, but it's close. Manual rotor clutch, cyclic, and collective controls added (this is what enables it to act like a helicopter) Front landing fork rotates up and forward when rotor clutch is engaged (i.e. heli mode.) This lets the Cygnus II sit at a 1-degree AOA on the tarmac, which makes it a lot easier to do vertical takeoffs and landings. (At the usual 7 degrees, it had a tendency to roll backwards. That is how realistic the physical modeling is.) Rotor discs shrink into the rotor hub once the pilot is no longer seated and the rotor has finished spinning down. (As long as the rotor is still, You won't bump your head on something invisible while exiting the aircraft.) Oh yeah, I decided to throw in a couple of wing-mounted miniguns. They are worn as a single attachment, have a touch menu, and will fire either particles or physical bullets.