Another thing that keeps popping in FSO conversation is radar gaps and coverage. Is that something that needs to be revisited for FSO?
Gaps and coverage definitely make a difference. We use the dar circles to typically indicate "flashing" range. Rarely is there any actual radar coverage.
Base flashing is necessary in FSO imho because we want the players in FSO to have a strong chance of interaction, even if it is just seeing an enemy fleeing after they have shot up the bar area.
You could look at the map we are currently using, look at the circles in use and say "hey there are a lot of gaps"! But of course flashing isn't limited to fields, it also affects citys and factorys. Knowing AH2s limitations, a person practiced in the dark arts, can immediately deduce the position of any plane that flashes 2 objects.
This makes it very easy for me as a defender to move whatever guns I have to the most advantageous position I can achieve.
Without that full coverage, I have to start tasking scouts, putting standing patrols in risky blocking positions and taking risks on my ability to use the strongest fist against the softest nose of the opposition. If it's a long flight for the attackers and there are just one or two routes inbound without alerting, then its easy to throw a scout in that hole, or worse.
As a defender, if I receive the gift of alert coverage that extends well out from a target area I can (and almost always do) push a fighting group way out on what is often the only plausible ingress route. I can use that group to harass and torment the attackers gradually consuming their cover and simultaneously constantly alerting other groups to position themselves to maximum effect. I can also do that if there was no alerting but only by increasing risk the further I push it. That's the kind of challenge that defenders should be set.
I also use a clock. In FSO you typically know where they are coming from, when they are leaving, where they are going, and often enough what route they are forced to take. You can calculate easily and accurately when something or another should be flashing. If it isn't by a certain time you now know they are coming "the other way". You have that 1 hour rule that forces attackers into a very narrow range of choices when there is a long way between home and target.
If designers remain aware of a few of the parameters then they can be adjusted for effect. Faster late war aircraft like B29s require a larger alert circle than an ingress of Vals.
I don't think it is too much to ask of planning CICs to have to think about the tasking beyond sticking a squad name in an XL slot in a type that those guys didn't get last week.
I also believe that FSO is largely made up of "fighter preferred" squads that particularly dislike getting issued with lumbering targets more than one week a month and would prefer a slower rate than that.
Giving any person a reasonable chance to complete their mission and return home alive is a worthwhile objective for designers and planners and is likely to produce an immersed player happy with her experience.
