S!
I raised a point similar to this earlier.
I fly a P-47 a lot, and I guess for that reason you could call me an `Alt Monkey`. I have noticed a few things when at high altitude looking for contacts:
1) You can see a contact well at 10.0+ distance. At these ranges, the contact is a single black dot. This stands out well against any background.
2) At shorter ranges, 6.1-10.0, the contact`s visual characteristics change. The dot becomes coloured and multi-pixelled. This makes it almost impossible see against ground clutter. Often I find a contact I`ve spotted will dissapear, and I have to head to the what I can estimate to be the correct area, and wait for the Red Icon to appear. Many times I find myself overshooting, or losing contact completely.
In real life, it was true that aircraft were often less noticeable against multi-textured and coloured ground when viewed from above.
The opposite was true of aircraft silhouetted against solid overcast clouds or against ground covered with snow.
Experienced pilots when in a situation where a solid overcast existed, would often go down to the deck, rather than fly just above or below a solid mass of cloud.
I like the idea of a target being difficult to pick up against ground clutter.
My problem is with the ease at which one can pick up an aircraft a longer ranges, as the single black dot.
Perhaps as suggested, the dots could be coloured, so they are less visible against the ground.
Or perhaps the overall range at which the dots can be seen could be reduced. Of course that solution would remove the possibility of seeing an aircraft in ideal situations as when it is silhoetted against a cloud formation etc.
