Hello HTC and all.
Had a couple of ideas that are tied in together somewhat that I thought might be really useful and enhance the game.
#1. Changes to the chat screens. Right now, we've got one "text buffer" and one "text typer/radio tuner" screen in the game. What I propose is that the "text typer" screen be reconfigured to another "text buffer". Then, we can set each text buffer separately to whatever channels we want, such as the "primary" buffer being for 200, country, region, and "secondary" for squad, tuned, and "scouting" (which I'll describe later and is non-typeable). It would help sort the fluff from the organizational. How to type? Easy. Use the / key with a modifier (shift, ctrl, alt) as before to type in primary text buffer, with the "input" box being overlayed on top of the buffer box, and the \ key with a modifier to type in the secondary text buffer with input box being overlayed on that. That would ALSO allow us to increase the number of available radio channels if desired. HOWEVER, for simplification, this should not change the 2 VOX setup we have now (range/channel).
I really think this would be a good addition as it would not only allow better "instant recognition" of what you are looking at, but also increase the information you can get (for instance, I rarely have squad channel tuned becuase I just don't have the space for that AND "channel" tune, plus 200, 2, and 3).
#2. "Scouting". I propose that there is a new hotkey called "Enemy Spotted" (controller/HOTAS mappable of course). It's function would be similar to the "check 6" hotkey, in that you would have to be in visible range of the enemy target. By hitting the "enemy spotted" hotkey, a semi-transparent circle gets put on the Clipboard with a number next to it as approximate Alt in 5k increments, as well as a count of "one, few, many" indicating the # of enemy spotted. The clipboard icon would only last approximately 60 seconds, and only 1 "enemy spotted" call would be recognized by the game per subsector (i.e. 15,4,1 and 15,4,2 would both show, but 2 in 15,4,1 would only show once). This ALSO automatically would put a line in the text buffer on the "scouting" channel (separate channels for each chess piece of course) stating the Keypad location, approximate Alt, and one, few, many just like the clipboard icon. I know that the "dar bar" kind of stands in for ground spotters, but the dar bar only gives indication of approximate # of aircraft. It does nothing about altitude, numbers, or what not. I would think in real life that there'd be more information such as direction and stuff, and this is a way to get some of that information more easily relayed in via "pilot radio".
As far as game effect, I think this could really put "better ability" behind the ideas of scouting and CAP, and it'd make it easier for base defenders to know where they are getting attacked from, and would hurt "milkrunning" somewhat by making it harder. I think this'd also be a good addition for the defense of the new STRAT targets, as there'd at least be a chance to defend them when the enemy comes in at 25k and the only indiciation is a dar bar.
