Quote:
Originally Posted by Janosch
These cheats create more problems for gameplay, balance and immersion than they supposedly fix. Now, a "friendly icons only, at close range" - type of solution is acceptable, if only to prevent friendly fire, but that is generally needed only for non-historical planesets.
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I think that compromise is possible.
First, there should be an easy server or mission option to set the range at which bogies become detectable and identifiable. That allows mission builders and server hosts to easily limit balance an immersion problems. Yes, I know you can change these ranges in the conf.ini, but it's a hassle. Better to get it set up in the FMB or server settings.
Next, there need to be more detection and identification levels than currently exists once the "dot on the horizon" comes into view. These levels should be friend or foe (friend/foe), then plane type (e.g., 4-engined), then exact plane type (B-17), then confirmation of friend or foe due to national markings (e.g., American B-17), and a final level were exact plane type, unit markings, pilot and other details become obvious (B-17F, DF-A, 324th Bomb Squad, "Memphis Belle").
The mission builder or server admin should be able to control the range at which these various levels of information become available, and some potential for error could exist at lower levels of information, especially in poor visibility conditions (e.g., mistaking SBD for A6M2 due to sun glare) or when friendly or hostile planes "aren't where they should be". (e.g., friendly planes far behind enemy lines, or vice-versa)
That would set up the possibility that you can't always trust your icons! Realistically, this would represent bad information reported by radar operators or ground observers.
Since icons represent the "human factors" of eyesight and target identification skills, these ranges should vary not just on visibility conditions, but also pilot skill.
Veteran or ace pilots should be able to pick out other planes in the sky sooner and more accurately than rookies, while completely untrained pilots should almost never get full information and might mistake unfamiliar or easily confused allied types for hostile, and vice-versa.
The mission builder or server host should also have the option of making certain planes "unfamiliar" or "familiar" making it harder or easier to identify (but not detect) them.
This would help to create realistic missions where pilots encounter new or rarely encountered aircraft types, such a missions where Western Allied pilots encounter Soviet aircraft.
Additionally, the ranges at which you learn details about particular planes should vary. A big plane with a distinctive silhouette and no camouflage, like the B-29, should be easier to detect and recognize than a smaller plane which could easily be mistaken for another type, such as the Typhoon and the Fw-190 or the P-51 and the Bf-109.
Finally, the amount of information you should get should also change based on the angle from the pilot of the observing aircraft to the aircraft to be spotted. For example, it should be easier to detect and identify a plane silhouetted against clouds below it when seen from above than it is to detect the same plane based on its horizontal or frontal profile.
Tweaking these factors would help AI behave more realistically, better simulate the many "human factors" that are absent in the game, and provide a better compromise between reality and the game's graphical limits.