well the debate about "with icons" & "no icons" really doesn't matter....
I am flying in there ( the AvsA), and I extremely hate the idea of "no icons for enemy" and very limited icons for friendly.....
as far as "well before we began using the "no icons" setting, the AvsA was a ghost town..... that boat don't float... the CT / AvsA has had it's ups and downs with it being almost non-populated, to just a handful using it, to a decent number of 15 to 30 flying in it to sometimes 75+ flying there.... and then it would go right back to being a ghost town ( just like it is a ghost town almost 90% per day, everyday even now with the no icons setting )..
people only seem to populate it in the evenings, with every now and then a few popping in before 7pm EST or after 2AM EST........and most other times, with this no icon settings it is still for the most part a ghost town....... people are still doing the exact same things they did before the no icon rule, and that is & was to schedule specific meeting times to do specific things....
as far as the well I can see a Cessna 152 at 3 to 2 miles away on approach landing at the local airport, Aces high or any online flight sim for that matter never will be able to compare with the real thing....... heck it was even stated in this thread that a P47 and a sherman can not be seperated by distinction at a mile out in the arena, that they both have the same pixel pattern ( that is 1.7K in our icon measurement in game ).... so that right there tells us all that one can not compare the "no icons is more realistic" to actual reality......
It would be a nice gesture if the AvsA offered both sides of the arguement a mixture of both "no enemy icons" and sometimes maybe a offering of "Limited distance say 3K or 2.5K enemy icons"........ but they are the ones who do the setup.....
it is up to the rest of us if we want to participate in the AvsA or not......
I just don't accept the "The AvsA was a Ghost Town before "no icons" Theory"..... I do accept the fact that the AvsA has experienced an influx of new players from other flight sims ( along with some of the longtime players from the MA and all the old CT/AvA players ) which is a wonderful thing and the AvsA has been on a good roll which is approaching a year now of positive population......... I hope it continues ( I personally think it will )
but for the most part, the AvsA is still vacant with a rough guestimate of 90% of everyday...... no different than it has ever been......
and I can have fun just the same with icons or without icons, as long as I can find someone else to fly against in the AvsA......
edit: and to get back on the topic:
Awesome job USRanger
love this terrain , the clouds, the water, the reefs, the sky color....simply AWESOME !!!