If its that hard to tell if the houses are down, just add small flames to each building that's destroyed, problem is it may put lots of lag on any older computer.
I've found that the smaller a smoke flame is, the easier it is for the PC to handle it, i honestly think this would be a great idea for the town, also AA guns, you'd be able to tell whats down and whats not, making your first attack run much more safe then it would be going in with just a guess.
First hit on a town building (Fire black smoke), been down for i don't know few minutes (Fire grey smoke), just as its about to pull up again (Fire no smoke).
No need for huge massive fire and smoke ! just small and simple, i can really tell this would work great.
Things that cause lag from smoke are the thickness of it, and how huge it is, same with flames and fire, cut the smoke thickness and the fire thickness and all should be well.
