We simply call it radar, we use our "radar" as a method to display all aircraft intelligence. We do not in any way attempt to model real radar.
HITech
Emphasis by me. He calls it radar, and so should we.
I don't care what it is, just what effect it has on my own personal level of fun. (And of course I prefer a variant of radar that prefers the knight play style over the bish or rook play style. because we're at war. kind of a meta-game.)
I played mostly in a tank yesterday but the new enemy plane indicator<--since its not radar-works for me.
but HiTech you can't please everybody. must have been a hell of a program to work up for this to work right out of the box-so to speak.
there's 1 bird you killed with a stone is the off map planes-if one person go's and chases them and sees them all can see them.
maybe one thing CCVI missed this setting is still a TEST-not permanent yet.
or his gripe is his no vote type response to the new enemy plane visual aid(again not radar).
and I'm sure if you asked him he would probably vote for a previous test version of the RADAR test.
CCVI you are my countryman but you gonna have to make a compromise sooner or later, I don't think there are to many `configurations that HiTech can try with the RADAR- to me this currant(enemy plane visual aid will work for us)
I am aware that it is a test. We have discussed the prior tests in detail, and its worth discussing this one, too. There was no thread yet, so I opened one. Needs a catchy subject and some harsh words to pull in views and replies.
For the subject itself, there's two bad things with it. Both already existed in the all-seeing edition, so there isn't much sense in delaying a discussion.
a) Its SA-enhancing, up the point where it replaces the windows. It teaches to look at the map, not outside. I've read the posts here, and I think someone even claimed that its a good thing to "simulate" the SA of the real pilot. I can only disagree on that. There's no need to simulate something that the player can do reasonably well within the simulated world. Likewise, the HUD should show gees (because the plane can be flown by one's rear), but not speed. The human being has no sensory input for that, so the player shouldn't need it either. How about leveling up the simulated pilot so his SA gets better over time?
The simulated world outside looks beautiful (slowly getting used to it). It should be looked at. All the time. Scanned for aircraft. Failing to do so can you get killed. In here, and in reality, even in times of peace. This variant of radar will teach future generations (and over time everyone having been here for too long, too) to look at the map. All the time. Not outside. That's a horrible way to play the game. Look outside, enjoy the scenery at least, if there's no aircraft nearby. Stay alert. The localized dar makes a boring flight even more boring.
b) It's providing information that otherwise wouldn't be there (easily). SA is enhanced beyond what icons can do. It doesn't make the player aware of everything showing an icon, but of everything nearby, even if it wouldn't show an icon when looked at, and even if it is insanely hard to spot (say, goon parked between trees). This takes away options. Less options, less variety of activities, less reason to play. A furball may be fun once in a while (even for no reason - there, a part-time agreement with the furball-only crowd), but it's not sufficient for long-term motivation. More different things to do, more reasons to play. Also nice for a more broad target audience.
If I could have the radar/map my way, there would be no GPS (no own icon), updates were delayed significantly (5min+), and only available as voice transmissions. They might even include a little bit of altitude information. The clipboard would just show a static map. But I am aware that I can't have that. (Before anyone suggests it, I could print the map and never open the clipboard. But we're at war, and that would cause quite a disadvantage.)
I didn't see any of the issues with regards to bombers discussed in this thread. I was thinking that bombers are big enough to spot beyond icon range anyway. Also they don't appear out of nowhere when bomber-hunting, so there the localized dar didn't seem to have much of an effect. Lusche's report that even he overlooked bombers passing low within icon range makes me think though.
From the bomber point of view, an artificial SA enhancement for bombers could to be somewhat justified. Bombers had multiple crew members, and player only has two eyes (most of us, anyway). But then that additional SA enhancement is already provided by external view. The localized radar on the map doesn't add much for bombers, nor is it very useful.
From the description of how its working I assume that the current edition is relatively simple compared to anything that would avoid problem category b). Each front end probably has all aircraft positions, and no additional data beyond the positions is needed to get the current display.
A strategy to avoid b) could be to only show on the map when an icon would be visible. That would require to compute the terrain for every enemy in range of a friendly. That's probably more work. Another strategy could be to display on the map only if an icon has been shown to someone, which needs additional data to be transmitted. And that's probably even a lot more work. That's probably the reason why it is the way it is for the quick short term test.
For strategies to avoid a) it seems like there's only the delay, or randomness (unless GPS is taken away). If the delay option is already there, why not apply it? I'm not exactly show how it works, does it just create more rare but still live updates, or does it freeze the data at one point in time, and displays it later?
Reduced heading information would be nice, too. But with a delay the heading information is mostly useless anyway. Still it would be nice to see prior track not instantaneous heading of the snapshot (where it came from, not where it is going).
(uh oh, the preview looks lengthy. sorry, but I'll post anyway. feel free to not read if its too much.)
