When I was a teenager in Maryland my father belonged to the Ft. Meade Flying Club along with flying as an instructor for Hinson Airways at BWI. The no enemy icon in the AvA is fairly relaistic. My father and some of his flying freinds would happen to meet in what ever they were flying over a farm near Frederick Maryland Airport on saturday mornings. Then play a game they made up called "Hold 6".
You have to imagine 3 or 4 cessna 150-172, piper cherokee, stinson reliant, voyager and even an L19 Birddog with 40ish to 60ish men playing geriatric SlowMow DA yelling guns, guns, guns at each other. One of those old guys happened to own the farm they met over. These sessions didn't last more than 15 minutes and consisted mostly of slow circles with diving and climbing. But, the AvA is realistic in that you lost sight easily looking down for the other guy then picked him up again looking up. And judging distance and E states by eye was not easy.
That big red icon with the range tag on it is one of the primary reasons this game is playable for most of the player base. With out it you really do spend most of your time looking over your shoulder and fishtailing to check your low 6. No comfortable drive to the dot on radar and a 6k visual warning icon to help you get ready. I watched Oldman almost pick someone from underneath because he was hiding just back and below in a blindspot shadowing in a slow climb. His opponent had lost sight of him for a moment as Oldman dove out at the ground clutter.
I noticed three very common issues players were having with no-Icon.
1.) Being able to see and track their targets. Your eyes are not adjusted to working with sillouetts because you track the GIANT red range indicating Icon in the DA or MA.
2.) Being able to judge timing to initiate manuvers. This comes back to the Icon and range. I had a con initiate a defensive over shoot barrel roll early which was beutiful to watch but all it did was have him finish it with his wings completely filling my gunsight in front of me so I could pull the trigger. He started it with me too far back and completed it just as I closed the distance between us.
3.) Knowing how to calculate range, deflection, and bullet drop using an historical gunsight. This comes back to that red Icon and its auto range tag. I saw alot of missing because players did not know 1000, 800, 600, or 400 yards from 200 yards. Most of the kills I witnessed and that I made were by flying up the cons tail and wearing debrie in my windscreen. Historical gunsights were laid out to help the pilot judge distance, elevation and deflection. That red Icon does it for us by ticking off 1000-200 yards during combat.
I liked the setup. Without the Icon you began to understand the need for a wingman and good communication. Camouflaged paint scheams worked as intended. The real problems of visualy judging range and E states is well showcased. Radar does show you above NOE red dots so you can vector to a fight. You still had to keep looking everywhere all the time because several players would hang out NOE near your airfeild to catch you as you climbed out or were landing. When the fights were even it was challenging and a lot of fun.
The lack of a big red range indicating Icon will be an extra visual workload and stressfull for some players. Not all players come to this game for the same reasons. But, for some players the lack of an Icon is an added immersive dimension which will make their air to air combat experience that much more exciting. The best way to first experience it is with a group of players you know or freinds. Their feed back makes getting up to speed with no-Icon faster.
This setup has the flavor of the old CT days. I hope more players become involved.
