S3 Series

If this has been discussed in another thread forgive me. Not sure why this changed, but pilot names appear as enemy plane icons. So you know which pilot and squad you are engaging. I think Madcat even failed to engage a 109 at one point because he saw the pilot name and assumed he was friendly.

Most of us know each other well; how we fly, how large our squads are, how to engage, etc. My opinion is this change isn't good for the game. Or maybe others like it.... ? Part of the fun of the S3 is not knowing who you are up against until it's over.

Anyway, hope this isn't a permanent feature of the S3s.

BTW, fun hard fought frame tonight. <S> to the 51st for some white-knuckled fights.

Oskar

Salute! Horrido!

Good point Oskar.

Seems to me that the plane type is even "cheating", huh? Ditto for early color.

I realize we have the "black dot" problem still not solved to everyone's satisfaction ( me and other pilots in RW) and it's hard to get a good feel for the outline of the plane unless, of course, it's a big buff like I usually fly, heh heh.

Up to me I would not display the color, and start displaying type when it's about 4,000 feet. From real world "searching", most of us could not see a F-5 aggressor that was needle nosing us until inside of a mile. Going into a huge furball with mixed folks we could easily tell the Tomcats, Eagles and Double Uglies out there two miles away. Next would be the Bugs (Hornets). Then the Scooters and Vipers. F-5's were, by far, the hardest ones to see.

Might be fun during the holidays to try a "special" that has no colors on the icons, but make the "black dots" bigger and use a generic icon in black, like "plane". LOL. Hell, with present graphics and pixels, we might get a tally at twice the distance. Of course, the worst case trial would be no icons!!!!

Gums opines...

As a counter point, I like it. No essay. Cheers

Interesting suggestions Gums. Sounds like it would be fun. I have been bounced and shot down by my own side in an S3 even with friendly icons at D20. So I guess that could happen more often w/o longer range color icons. Not displaying plane type would be fun and a bit more realistic.

Muzz, I am surprised anyone really likes the display of pilot names in the S3. Thanks for sharing your opinion.

Oskar

It was quite a surprise in frame 2 to see enemy names, but it makes no difference to me either way.
As to Gums' suggestions, I am all for it. My icons got messed up one frame last year and it was very 'stimulating' to have no icons in a furball. Fortunately the enemies were easily recognizable Lightnings. So I would add that it would be most fun if the matchups were noticeably different airframes. I've got old eyes and can have problems with seeing cons clearly, but I would heartily support a scenario with no icons, reduced icons or range only. Challenges make it fun and refreshing.

Here's the funny part...Spiro, more often than not, is the one who spots bogeys first.

~GRIN~

Salute! Horrido! Banzai!

Well, in galaxy far away, like 10 or more years ago, many of us whined about the "black dot" solution to spotting another plane.

As the graphics got better with the "skins" and such, it seemed that "albedo" of the other planes kept them from being rendered as "black dots". By the time you could tell what the plane was it was really close. So real world pilots brought up the black dots we used to see from v1.1

Could be an good thread once again. And ask any RW pilot if he can see the black dot of a light plane from 1 or 2 or 3 miles away.

Gums opines...

Just a slight change to try and simulate the small personal level of air combat in the western desert at this early point in the war.
Put a bit more pressure on juice too

I should have added my comments on the OP...

...while it is novel to see who you're shooting at, I think this provides too much intel when combined with our small numbers and .ros squad.

Ni ¥

It helped in picking out the human driven bomber.......