Yeah, that really makes your heart beat. The AI have been seeing us in the clouds for the past 10 years.

Agreed 100%

This is a subjective topic.. but I don't have a problem with the dot size.. it is the dot tranitions and colors.. As SEE noted.. they are ezer to see from a long distance than close up.. Which just 'feels' wrong.. And the problem is the 'sudden' change in the dot color.. it will go from black to light-blue-grayish.. not a transition in colors but a suddent snap change.

On a related subject.. Not sure why.. but the detail of the dot at a distance is.. well.. a dot.

In RoF they seem to figure out a way to actully render something that looks like a plane with wings at a distance.. not just a dot

that is a really good idea i think!that would resemble reflections much more as they are only apparent in certain angles.
at least its a good idea for far distances.a short flash of light,disappearing again.if you are lucky, you will notice it.as you head into the direction, then the "reflections"/dots should appear in higher frequence until they become a stable visible object.
the dots should not change colour at all i think.i think the most realistic look, would be that first the whole plane is represented by this white dot.when it gets closer and therefore is made out of more pixel, the reflection dot should not increase in size, but neither should change the colour.it should remain this one or two pixel white dot, until the plane is fully visible.and even then this dot could remain a little longer on the canopy for example.
i also think that the dots shouldnt dissapear suddenly.it really looks strange, and as SEE pointed out, enemies are much easier to spot in far distances.that is just wrong.
besides that, they absolutely should not be visible through clouds or land.that just looks horrible.

when trying to track a distant aircraft, if lost against the sky, i'll back the FOV out to a very wide field, which lets me easily pick up the aircraft again because while the image is zooming out, the aircraft's target dot stays the same size on the screen. This is completely unrealistic. Again, it's like having a radar.

I agree with the description of the trend but i find your solution a bit harsh. I think there are ways to penalize unrealistic tactical behaviors without using kick/ban commands. There's lot's of progress being made with scripting in that regard, a supply tracking system would solve what you describe to a big extend without having to institute deatchkick rules on servers.

I want to jump in a shiny Spit Mk.II or 109E-4 and burn through planes low on the deck? Sooner or later my airfield runs out of aircraft and i have to fly older types while waiting for replacements, or the airbase shuts down altogether due to lack of aircraft. My team mates get annoyed at me for burning through their best fighters and the server admin or the player voted as "commander" for the team gives me a transfer to another airfield where i can only fly Hurricanes or 109 E-1s respectively, or it could just happen via another player throwing up a team vote, just like it happens in other gaming genres to select maps, kick players, etc. Problem solved ;)

All of this is possible with scripting and the ability to have custom in-game menus.

I never wanted to ban anyone - it was a poor example or choice of words. I just wanted some realistic result to come about for my poor planning or conversely a win for accomplishing the tactical goal. Neither of which can happen when you shoot me down and I magically reappear right away.

Your idea does have merit. I do no want anyone banned at all. I was simply implying if you're shot down over the channel the likelihood of you being airborne that same day was not very good.

If we want planes and sounds to be as real as we always ask for them to be we might want to consider the one overlooked element that would add even more realism. You will spend as much or more time avoiding being shot down as flying with reckless abandon and guns a blazing. Anyone that reads the stories written by persons that actually did this will know that often the other side knew the enemy plane was near they could see it. They were stalked and just waiting for the right opportunity.

Of course this cannot apply to a free for all setting - everyone enjoys that.

Problem with this is in Real life you see planes furhter htan that. to give you an example, you can clearly see an airliner 10 km above, a few other km aside and still clearly see the same outlines you get of a B17 at 500 meters in il2.

Actually, dots size and rendering distance might be linked with pilots skill RPG-like progress: the better a pilot is, the easier and further he will see the dots.

This would need the server to keep track of pilots records, and sending individual command to clients regarding to dots size and maximum distance rendering (instead having it enforce a single dots setting for everyone).

This mechanism is a safe way to make pilots wants to live and progress in a MP environment.

you might also link this with individual neg/pos Gs supported, and the amount of force they can pull, also server individually enforced (not big values, but enough to make you want to have them).

This is one of the limitations of virtual flying on the computer. We look at the world through a small view port that is really not very accurate. Even the best professional monitors cannot come close to the acuity of the Mk. 1 eyeball.

So, we have to make compromises. Real fighter pilots can spot aircraft quite a long way off, the only way to do this on a computer monitor is to have a dot. There simply is no other way. I'd rather have a long range dot than no visual of the opposing aircraft at all.

As much as we protest to the contrary, there is very little that we do in a sim that is actually realistic. It's all a series of pretty large compromises.

RL visibility
 

I thought you'd be interested in the following quote from "The Sky Suspended" by Jim Bailey,

"I was learning how to see by night and by day, and the results were surprising. For instance, a properly camouflaged aircraft, flying hard down on the sea, was invisible from a mile or two away. But if you were lower, another aircraft would then be silhouetted against the sky and become apparent at six or seven miles... Again, a properly camouflaged aircraft becomes quickly invisible against the blue of the sky. But if you are higher than your opponent and can set him off against the cloud, he will stand out at seven to ten miles."

And on the sun, "It had once seemed to me to be difficult to come at an aircraft out of the sun.... for the sun is small. But I soon discovered that it fills a quarter of the sky and twenty thousand feet, for at ground level the glare is lessened by the atmosphere."

ISBN 0 7475 7773 0

He comes across as a rather strange man, perhaps understandable as he started on Defiants in the BoB.

56RAF_phoenix