Enhanced Spotting Dots Idea

[bear.is.flying]

The current DCS “enhanced spotting dot” system has significant drawbacks, which can be improved with a “hollow box” system.

 

Currently, the spotting dot renders on top the airplane model. This has two major gameplay issues:

 

1. An abrupt transition occurs at the range where the dot disappears, yet the underlying model is still very small. This makes it easy for the player to lose tally at that moment.

 

2. The dot blocks the model, making it impossible to assess target aspect or obtain a visual ID at distances where the dot is rendered, even when the player zooms in their view.

 

A hollow box system would solve the above issues. The box would be a thin (1-2 px) square or rectangle that just barely surrounds the plane model. This allows the underlying model to still be seen. As the plane gets closer, the box would also enlarge to surround the model, until at some distance it fades away completely.

 

1. Approaching the transition range, the player is already seeing the model inside the box. Therefore, when the box fades away, it’s not as abrupt a transition. The player is thus more likely to retain a tally.

 

2. Players can still zoom in to get a visual ID and assess aspect at ranges where the hollow box is visible.