I think Dobs is ideally qualified to comment accurately on what the water should look like and the difficulties of judging altitude in aerial combat over water.
My personal experience also indicates that the present water in Aces High poorly represents real world conditions except for those present during specific meteorological conditions.
Glassy water landings are only a challenge because one foot is critical when landing on water. One can certainly determine rough height above water even over glassy water close enough for general aerobatic purposes.
I concur 100%.
Flown to Florida three times in the last month and made a point to really look at the water. All of it. Ocean. Lakes. Glades. Canals.
AH3 water, while very nice up close, is not cutting it everywhere else.
It was said HTC is aware and working on it. Hope so.
OTOH, I have exploited this into a number of maneuver kills when defensive so it has its advantages.