Ignoring the constant ego-boosting that gyrene is giving himself (get a room, man! or we're going to call the cops!) I have to reply to motherland: No I did not participate in "combat challenge" because I have already done no-icons things in the past. It has not changed much.
A number of folks had fun in combat challenge, but you cannot say they would have had less fun with the icons on. Had the idea simply come up as an off-week filler fun night, the same folks (maybe more?) would have showed up, flown the same mission, and had the same fun.
Saying it was all because of the icon setting is a little rich, no?
Hell, I was flying no-icon missions with Frank back in HTH eons ago. Couldn't see the white invasion stripes on a P-51B until you were 200 out, saddled up, and about to shoot down your friendly.
P.S. Your comments in the other thread are a little rich too. I've seen airlines way the hell above me (DIA is quite busy) and you can spot the colors. Nobody's saying they're blotted out by the sun. From an airliner window seat you can also look DOWN on the world with quality only limited by the haze in the air (not the lack of vision on the person), and you cannot tell the difference in the shape of aircraft without "max zoom" settings until it's far too late to do anything about it.