I'd like to see a modification on how the icons are presented rather than a change in information. One of the more unrealistic aspects of the sim is to be flying several thousand feet above a camoflaged airplane and seeing a large red icon. The aircraft itself maybe nearly invisible but that non-scalable icon appears like a neon billboard.
The vehicle icon systems works great, IMO, and would lend itself to making lower opponents less visible. I'd suggest creating the equivilant of an obstructed view cone vertically below an airplane where the icon is not visible until it reaches a certain range. We already see icons disappear in the vicinity of clouds. Incorporating this would result in the equivilent of cloud (albeit invisible) below your plane that only blocks out the icon. It would not change horizontal or vertical detection ranges.
I'd also like to see icons disapear completely when in the vicinity of the sun.
Incorporating these two changes wouldn't mean much when viewing bandits horizontally but would give advantages in detection difficulty to both higher and lower bandits. For instance: Current colorations of Japanese aircraft would enjoy a significant benefit over land in the same way that the big blue carrier aircraft will over water. More real-life tactics could be used effectively, like low level ground hugging attacks and out of the sun bounces.
MiG
