I was thinking about it too. As it already is in IL2, when you open the map the mouse stops moving the view around and a pointer comes up for manipulating the map.
This could be expanded a bit for BoB if Mr Maddox wants to help people fly full real (no minimap icon, manual navigation). Maybe a little toolbar on top of the map window with some simple tools and a stopwatch would do the job. It doesn't have to be big and cluttering the view, just a row of small buttons the size of a windows desktop icon or even smaller.
I have had some experience with submarine simulations and i guess we could use the same tools. We probably wouldn't need more than the following: a protractor to measure angles, a compass to draw circles (useful to mark flak range, etc), a ruler to measure distances and a bearing wheel overlay on the cursor (with an on/off toggle) to calculate headings for our waypoints. An eraser and a stopwatch would be nice as well. That's a toolbar of six buttons that could be scaled appropriately and placed on the top of the map window. Of course i don't expect fighters to use it in the middle of combat, but it would be good to have for bombers and fighters could also make a rough flightplan in online play before taking off.
In any case, ideas are plentiful and requests as well. The difference is the way we ask for things. I trust the dev team to deliver a quality simulation and so i won't be demanding things from them. All we should be doing is giving them ideas to improve their new product. If time is available and it can be done, i'm sure they will do it, they want this new venture to succeed just as much as we do, we are on the same team.
I want to thank 1C and Mr. Maddox for years of enjoyment. I believe that SoW will be as much of a welcome shock to the sim world as IL-2 was when it was first released.
