aircraft disappearing against terrain.

[xnomad]

It is very difficult to see them but they shouldn't necessarily be easy to see either.

I've read accounts of planes disappearing into the ground clutter a few times.

Helmut Lipfert in his war diary often resorted to diving down low and looking up. A few times when he did this he suddenly would see whole swarms of aircraft on the horizon that he hadn't noticed from above.

He also used to lie his plane on it's back to get a better view too. I do this in the sim and have always wondered if real pilots ever did this and it turns out they did.

So back to the topic, it's probably too hard in the game but shouldn't be too easy either, it's just harder to detect movement against the ground in a sim when the ground is so detailed like it is now.

[Skoshi Tiger]

From experience flying light aircraft, some times its hard seeing light coloured aircraft in the best of conditions.

"Wiskey India Foxtrot, join circuit down wind behind white Cessna", "Hmmm! OK!"

I think I remember reading Chuck Yeager discussing the technique he had for visually searching for E/A's, People kept on saying he had fantastic vision, he just put it down to focuing at infinity and mantaining a consistent search pattern.

That said In COD I've been flying around in circles right on top on an enemy aircraft and only saw it when it was attacked by another friendly. Once I saw it I could follow it, but had to keep direct visual contact.

That made me think it was modeled fairly good in COD.

Cheers!

[Pluto]

Something else about sights in CoD, ....

when I am for example flying the 109 and dogfighting with a Hurricane,
I do not loose it so quickly out of sight even if we turn and turn quite a bit, I still keep track of it. Of course harder against the ground than against the sky but still, I can follow it and eventually bring it down, if it does not bring me down first.

On the other hand, when I fly as the last bird in a formation and start leaving the formation just to fly behind it some barrelrolls or some other maneuvers, I loose the formation faster than the Hurricane in the dogfight, although, it should be easier to keep track of a steadyly moving big object like a formation of planes.

That happened of course also some times in the old IL2 but there you found your formation again very quickly, whereas in IL2-CoD you might need a few moments to find it again. If it takes too long, you have lost them for good.

[timholt]

As a (used to be) pilot in real life I think it is realistic.

[patrat1]

Originally Posted by timholt

As a (used to be) pilot in real life I think it is realistic.

is it realistic to have a bomber formation about 1k away, disappear as your staring at it?

[Winger]

Originally Posted by patrat1

is it realistic to have a bomber formation about 1k away, disappear as your staring at it?

They dont disappear at 1km. They just get that small that you loose them
I am certain that the distance at wich planes effectively dissapear is bigger than 1km depending on your resolution.

Winger

[timholt]

Originally Posted by patrat1

is it realistic to have a bomber formation about 1k away, disappear as your staring at it?

My experience in the game (so far) is they don't disappear, they just blend in with the ground (the reason for the camo paint schemes).

Try enemy view and I am sure they will be there. I will confess I have had to resort to this more than once )purely as an aid to my 64 year old eyes) for low flying a/c over land, especially around dawn and dusk.

[reflected]

The wonderfully made reflections on canopies don't help either, especially at dawn or dusk! Still, I love it

[Buzzer]

Also find it hard. But I think its pretty realistic.
As someone else mentioned: in BoB pilots said they could one moment be in the thick of it - the next minute you were (ie thought you were) completely alone.

Also in RL its extremely hard to spot other AC:
Sometimes the easiest way is to spot a dot moving against the background.
Could be a white 737 - imagine this was a greenish spitfire: would be impossible to spot it.

But yes, its frustrating loosing sight of an enemy you know is there somewhere.
Been reading books about Dick Bong, Bruce Porter, George Barclay, Douglas Bader etc - and they rarely speak of 1on1 encounters. Guess its because its too hard to spot single AC, and also the usual operation was large groups in formations.

Funny to read how many times they had to return due to oil on the windshield...trying to find the way back...

But good to hear others having the same "problem" .

[djwolters]

Originally Posted by reflected

The wonderfully made reflections on canopies don't help either, especially at dawn or dusk! Still, I love it

I remember from the Mig Alley sim that it was often the canopy reflections of enemy airplanes which would give you an early indication that there was something 'out there'. Apart from engine contrails at certain altitudes, of course.

Perhaps this could be modeled as well in a future CoD patch, that canopy reflections can be a bother, but may also help you spotting bogies (and vice versa)?