I'm sure this has been mentioned before but, being one who mucks about with terrain textures and the like, I've noticed that the more realistic textures make it difficult to see low (black) dots beyond con range. I've noticed some lighting flicker when the dots turn into rendered planes at intermediate distances but have not seen such at dot distances. I would bet that adding a little sporadic white flicker to dots when the sun is above the horizon would make it much easier to locate low bogies/furballs. The flicker could even be limited to maneuvering dots to be more realistic. I remember that "mig alley" did this and it gave the user just enough of a clue as to where the fight was.. just a recurring thought..
Sqrl