Scout/recon planes

[B-17]

ok, so here goes.

i havent seen a thread (yes, i did search) made recently, or focused on scouts SPECIFICALLY, and it came up in the thread involving the GV overhaul.
my ideas/the ones that have come up already

--have the GV icons visible from only the air, so there would be a point to having recon/scouts
--have the range that the GV icons appear in at about 1k, 2k, or 3k, there were a couple of different suggestions.
--apply the same rule to aircraft: invisible until inside 1-3kradius

any more constructive criticism is welcome, if you absolutely MUST flame, only then...go ahead. and any new ideas would be fantastic.

[guncrasher]

the reason for 6k icon is to IFF, since you cannot tell based on aircraft.  If it gets reduced to 1.5 then you would see lots of people just flying around in all directions looking for somebody to fight.  lots of good merges wasted because you dove on a friendly aircraft.  even at 3k it would still be hard, specially in large furballs like it happens in the MA.

So leave the 6k icon as it is to avoid all sorts of confusion.  unless of course you want to go to the AVA then It's less or no icon, not sure, never been there.

semp

[Rino]

     I would wonder why observation pilots have so much better eyesight than fighter pilots.  Going slower only
improves the time to spot objects, not the ability to spot them in the first place.

     Since we don't have the mission restrictions here that occur IRL, fighters and bombers for that matter can fly
as low as the observation guys can.

[MachFly]

ok, so here goes.

i havent seen a thread (yes, i did search) made recently, or focused on scouts SPECIFICALLY, and it came up in the thread involving the GV overhaul.
my ideas/the ones that have come up already

--have the GV icons visible from only the air, so there would be a point to having recon/scouts
--have the range that the GV icons appear in at about 1k, 2k, or 3k, there were a couple of different suggestions.
--apply the same rule to aircraft: invisible until inside 1-3kradius

any more constructive criticism is welcome, if you absolutely MUST flame, only then...go ahead. and any new ideas would be fantastic.

There is no need for a scout plane. You can do the same job in a fighter and actually be able to defend yourself.
There is no need to reduce the icon range because it only makes the sim more realistic, in reality it is much easier to spot planes that on a computer screen.

[DeadStik]

In reality it is much easier to spot planes than on a computer screen.

In reality we didn't have P51s fighting P47s. Icons are needed. Friend or foe.

[MachFly]

In reality we didn't have P51s fighting P47s. Icons are needed. Friend or foe.

That too

[icepac]

The C6N would be a great scout plane as it also had a night fighter variant that had the oblique cannons.

How about we make GV icons visible at longer ranges than normal only to dedicated weaponless recon planes.

[Volron]

The C6N would be a great scout plane as it also had a night fighter variant that had the oblique cannons.

How about we make GV icons visible at longer ranges than normal only to dedicated weaponless recon planes.

The coding for that sounds painfully fun...  And not all scout/recon planes were weaponless.  But if there was a "Scout Mode", then gv icons at longer ranges may work.  Only planes that were known to fly as scout/recon or were dedicated would have this ability in "Scout Mode".  They would fly in their historic setup for when they were sent to scout/recon.  If I recall correctly, early spits (and maybe the later ones too?) used as recon did not have any guns.  I believe it's the same for the P-38s that did recon as well, as the camera occupied a LOT of room in the nose.  The problem is what are the rewards to this?  If you shoot down something, how do you score it?

For the OP:
All in all, the idea of having these types of planes in AH is appealing (and exciting for me).  But at the moment, only FSO, Scenarios and Snapshots would benefit, and not a big benefit either.  Until they get around to adding a system that would really support the effort of flying a scout plane, you will just have to settle with upping something and scout around by your lonesome with little to no reward.  I've done it more than a few times, hunting down our cv's that are being hidden by the other side (I know all sides do it) in particular.  But at times it's actually fun to do it.  With the B-29, you actually stand somewhat of a chance of finding, sinking it too and returning home, albeit a VERY pricey option.  The Lancaster was the one used in the past to get to those "hard to reach cv's", but with no defense below it's rather easy to take down (especially to those who will exploit this weakness).  On one particular map, you will have to generally cover 10 sectors one way to reach the likely hiding spot for them THEN scout around.  While you can choose to fly high to avoid most problems getting to target area, it eats up fuel.  And once there, dropping to 10k or less is a almost requirement to insure you can get it in one go.  More than a couple of CV based planes can get up to 10k fairly quick.

In the end, a +1 for adding a scouting system.  But it takes a back seat for now.

[B-17]

The coding for that sounds painfully fun...  And not all scout/recon planes were weaponless.  But if there was a "Scout Mode", then gv icons at longer ranges may work.  Only planes that were known to fly as scout/recon or were dedicated would have this ability in "Scout Mode".  They would fly in their historic setup for when they were sent to scout/recon.   If I recall correctly, early spits (and maybe the later ones too?) used as recon did not have any guns.  I believe it's the same for the P-38s that did recon as well, as the camera occupied a LOT of room in the nose.  The problem is what are the rewards to this?  If you shoot down something, how do you score it?

this is EXACTLY what i meant to say. only planes that were actually used for scouting purposes i.e. Piper as opposed to the B-17... would be able to see the GV icons. thank you volron

btw, i agree, back burner. but just wanted to hear a bit of thought from different people.

[Volron]

this is EXACTLY what i meant to say. only planes that were actually used for scouting purposes i.e. Piper as opposed to the B-17... would be able to see the GV icons. thank you volron

btw, i agree, back burner. but just wanted to hear a bit of thought from different people.

The B-17 was used as scout/patrol in the PTO.  It just didn't carry any bombs and I THINK it had fuel tanks installed in the bomb bay to increase it's range.  Hopefully someone will be able to clarify this...

[lyric1]

The C6N would be a great scout plane as it also had a night fighter variant that had the oblique cannons.

How about we make GV icons visible at longer ranges than normal only to dedicated weaponless recon planes.

I think I am liking this plane. At least the night fighter version.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakajima_C6N

http://japaneseaircraft.devhub.com/blog/463004-nakajima-c6n-saiun/

http://www.nasm.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?id=A19600337000

[wooks]

I think it would brawnys cool for only friendlys to have icons  that way you wouldn't  waist URL time diving on a plane to find out it's a friendly   but no icons on enemy planes would be challenging  and fun also more realistic 

[mthrockmor]

What if you had a scout plane that could launch from the Baltimore Class cruisers in game. These planes had the advantage of the icon range being 3.0 or something, and they could control cruiser fire.

Isn't this what happened in real life? The cruiser shot, scout planes called adjusted fire? I know they would be sitting ducks though this would take team work and a BARCAP to specifically protect the scout bird. Just a thought but it could add to those wanting to game the Navy birds and ability. You would also see CVs further from shore, changing the dynamic in other ways. With the cruiser being a real threat in taking a base, you have the CV in the distance and you won't be able to cover the enemy airfield with puffy ack when the CV is parked right off the base.

Thoughts?

Boo

[B-17]

Scout planes being launched from the cruisers... like Hurricanes from the merchant ships, on the catapults?

I also like the idea of using the scouts to actually guide (however primitively it may be) the cruiser's (or battleship's ) fire... apply the same thing on land, with the single 8 inchers, and then it would be not only advisable, but necessary, to keep the CV a reasonable distance away from the airfield. Then there would be no puffy ack blanket.

I liked your post, Throckmore.

[guncrasher]

Scout planes being launched from the cruisers... like Hurricanes from the merchant ships, on the catapults?

I also like the idea of using the scouts to actually guide (however primitively it may be) the cruiser's (or battleship's ) fire... apply the same thing on land, with the single 8 inchers, and then it would be not only advisable, but necessary, to keep the CV a reasonable distance away from the airfield. Then there would be no puffy ack blanket.

I liked your post, Throckmore.

assuming they will live long enough to guide anything.  seriously think like everybody else says.  why up a slow donut plane with no guns when you can up the slowest plane from the cv and it will be faster and have more firepower to defend itself that any being proposed.

you want to know how long a scout plane will last, bring a goon and try to direct fire.

semp