I’m not opposed to strengthening the radar towers. I think they’re too easy to take out. Honestly, other than beefing up the tower, I don’t think the radar needed any tweaks at all. As I understand it, proximity dar was implemented to make fights easier to locate but I think the unintended consequences have had a much worse effect on the game overall. I don’t think it was a problem that needed to be fixed and the “fix” has seriously degraded play.
Degradation…
No need to look for dots on the horizon because you know they’re present the second they’re in range. NOE C-47 isn’t going to get lucky because that enemy doesn’t even need to rock their wings to see an icon (not to mention every player on your team can see the plane in real time). Cockpit braces, armor plates, and razorback configurations suffer less of an of an effect on SA. Clouds are nearly pointless. Radar can cover 1/2 a sector with two friends if they’re split far enough apart. You can make decisions about how to approach an engagement before you even leave the runway. Vehicles have radar too. You can train guns within a few degrees even with obstructions in the way and know if it’s approaching before you even hear it. Ganging the enemy even easier because players know they can dive in without having to be remotely concerned that they’ll get bounced themselves. Players also know what type of aircraft (bomber or fighter) and which way it’s going which makes it even easier to set up attacks. On the flip side, players can see how many red dots are on a countryman and make the decision to help or not before they’re even in radio range.
I really don’t think the radar update has helped much in the way of encouraging combat and any gains it may have made are so detrimental to other aspects that it should be retracted.