Aerial Reconnaissance in Air Battles

[slowmo21too]

Aerial Reconnaissance in Air Battles

Good Morning, Good Afternoon & Good Evening!

Aerial Reconnaissance is and has been a critical aspect of warfare since the invention of military aircraft, being their original role before even the thought of putting guns on planes.

Warthunder’s current air battle largely follows the simple process of players fighting to destroying bases & airfields to win a match. While it has side-objectives alongside the main battle, adding to the depth of the battle. I believe this can be furthered with the addition of this mechanic.

How to Implement:

I believe that this mechanic can be applied as an additional objective in regular air battles, similar to the side objectives already in-game. I will go into detail about how the system could work, but here’s just a quick TLDR:

1. Mission starts with standard 4 “visible” Bases, and 4 additional bases, “hidden” from players

2. Aircraft with Reconnaissance Cameras/Pods can fly over hidden bases and photograph them, identifying them to other players and opening them to attack

3. Once Identified, all allied players are able to see and attack the base

4. If a base is destroyed, rewards can be given and/or victory tickets added

Right! Here’s a full explanation:

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Full Explanation

Ok, now here’s the deep dive!

1. Mission starts with standard 4 “visible” Bases, and 4 additional bases, “hidden” from players:

When the Air Battle Starts, the standard 4 bases in the match will remain visible for allied players to seek and destroy as per usual:

However in addition, there will be 4 additional bases hidden to players unless they are in an aircraft with reconnaissance cameras or equipped with a recon pod; If so, they will see indicators of the hidden bases location:

2. Aircraft with Reconnaissance Cameras/Pods can fly over hidden bases and photograph them, identifying them to other players and opening them to attack

If a player decides to fly over to one of these hidden bases, they can press a button/hotkey to “Turn On Camera View”:

Once turned on, a small window appears in the lower right corner of the screen (similar in placement to map in Ground Battles), showing the recon camera’s point of view, based on its orientation within the aircraft:

3. Once Identified, all allied players are able to see and attack the base

A player can take a photo, ideally once the base is within view of the camera lens, and when the base is photographed, its become visible to all players and be able to be attacked and destroyed:

4. If a base is destroyed, rewards can be given and/or victory tickets added

Once the base is availiable for all players to attack, it is no different to a regular base, and gives rewards and can give victory tickets:

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Adding an aerial reconnaissance mechanic to warthunder’s air battles would be a fantastic addition to gameplay and the game as a whole, as adding reconnasiance would encourage players to fly more strategically, as they now are incentivised to try and sneak past enemy formations to photograph targets.

Overall, it would be a relatively simple addition, however would add a new unique layer of content in battles.

In addition, it would now allow an incentive to begin implementing vehicles with a more recon-oriented purpose.

There are plenty examples of aircraft purpose built, recon aircraft of earlier eras, and reconnaissance & survielance pods for more modern aircraft.

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Aircraft With Reconnaissance Cameras

J9 Early:

Meteor FR.9:

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Reconnaissance Pods From Across the World

DB-110 (USA)

RAPTOR (UK)

Reccelite (France)

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Well, thats the idea! What do you think?

Would you like to see this ingame?

• Yes
• No

[BasherBenDawg8]

Giving armed recon planes ingame a purpose would be quite nice +1.

[UnknownVariable]

I hope WW2 planes that were also used in the recon role, even if its not necessarily equipped with recon equipment when used in-game would get the “scouting for base” mechanic

But still, the “hidden base” mechanic is a really good and creative way to revitalize base bombing. In Project Reality and in Squad, they have this gamemode where you go looking for hidden stashes which people already know where they would generally spawn but it will be a random chance where it will actually spawn.

While having this randomized chance might make it detrimental, it does make scouting for the hidden bases a bit more interesting. Maybe give the same reward when you scout over the area and not find a hidden base there as the same as finding one - just that you dont have anything to bomb over there after confirming it.

[Nostalgistic]

+1, I like this idea. However, non-recon planes without cameras or pods should only be able to mark hidden bases if they physically overfly them at a specified maximum altitude (X). The non-recon planes have to take a risk to physically mark it, while recon planes can safely mark it from long, safe standoff distances as their main advantage.

@slowmo21too

Aircraft With Reconnaissance Cameras

BTW, F-6C also has recon cameras.

[UnknownVariable]

@Nostalgistic

they physically overfly them at a specified maximum altitude

A good compromise. I would also suggest giving this mechanic generally to strike aircraft, especially those that dont have the bomb load to bring down an entire base by themselves and not great at dogfighting something to do to grind. Of course this would be implemented loosely just like the current implementation of the scouting mechanic on light tanks also extends to some SPGs and stuff.

Would also be great if the hidden base like takes a huge chunk of the enemy tickets or gives like massive XP reward to those that can find it and bring it down. The hidden base would ideally be a bit more resilient to the ordinary base as well so multiple people can get the reward.

[Nostalgistic]

Fair. I think aerial reconnaissance in air battles shouldn’t be limited to hidden bases; it should also reveal hidden ground units. Give recon planes the more utility they deserve.

[Der_Preusse]

The Belgian Spitfire and the Prendergast’s Spitfire FR Mk XIVe also and the FW-189 has one too since it´s a recce plane.

I really like the idea cause you can make a whole line in the tree with foto/recce planes.