Here is a “recon planes in AH” idea I constructed during my AM drives to work. As it is now, all of the field runways and vehicle bases are aligned the same way. This idea and recon plane introduction would probably require new maps. This wish may not be realistic, but hey, I WISH I had a private mountain lake with a floatplane, floatplane garage, and trout streams.
In an arena suited to recon ac, all of the fields would be aligned differently. They would also be randomly aligned each time a new map comes up. Example: Some small fields would have a n/s runway, others e/w, nw/se, etc. The field icon on the clipboard map would only designate the field type, not show the runway/ field alignment as it is now. The dots for towns would not be on the clipboard map either. It must be reconn’ed. The starts would be designated on the clipboard by a general icon, but a recon flight must be made in order to see the alignment of the factories.
Recon planes (F-5, Spit, Mossie, others) could fly over fields and take a picture with a level bombsight style camera. Once the recon pilot lands successfully, the pic would be available to their team. There should be limit to the film, maybe 5-10 pictures. Only pictures of fields would post. Criterion of a “good” recon pic could be that the entire field has to be in the frame when the pic is shot. Maybe we could come up with a method for low level recon as well.
We could view recon maps by right clicking on that field on the map. If available, the recon pic would show the field with a “N” (north) at the top of the picture. There could be a “town arrow” pointing from the airfield to the town location. Recon pics would stay up for a limited amount of time. They would not be available if the field is taken. There should also be a time limit for recon pics availability: when the map rolls, 12 hours, 24 hours?
This would create the need for carefully planned approaches and more realism, rather than having fields that are all aligned the same way like they are now where every small field has a sw/ ne runway.
Other incentives to make recon flights;
Perk Points upon successful landing, perhaps a quarter of what a fighter kill would be for each good recon pic. No points awarded for pics of fields that have already been reconn’ed, and no points for pictures of nothing.
The pilot’s handle would be in the corner the pic while it is up.
Deep penetration recon flights to back fields would be fun, as well as intercepting them. I would do both.
-Thanks for reading. ~S~ Buck
