Over the years, various maps have been introduced to the game, some larger than others, new vehicles have been added, ones whose engagement distances aren’t hundreds but thousands of meters. However one thing that has mostly remained unchanged is the spotting system and the network synchronization for long range targets.
This, understandably so, has caused some… inconveniences. First off, in some larger maps, it is possible to be staring directly at an enemy but they will simply be invisible because they are outside your crew’s spotting range (732m to 1626m, depending on level. This value is multiplied by 3 times when in binoculars or gunner view) while they can see you because they are in their gunsight or they have a higher level crew.
This can cause frustration as dying to an enemy that is invisible because you had a low crew level (especially for the vast majority of players that use premium vehicles) is simply unfair.
In some extreme cases (for maps such as Red Desert), you could be staring directly at an enemy tank through your gunsight and they will still be invisible if your crew’s keen vision skill level is low enough, making long range engagements practically impossible.
And as almost every player that has used top tier SPAA or has flown jets with powerful PD radars has noticed, planes tend to just become invisible at certain ranges but you can still clearly see their contrails or the smoke produced by their engines.
This issue can be very easily solved by removing the maximum spotting distance from Realistic and Simulator battles. But then what’s the point of even leveling up this skill you may ask… The answer is simple. Similar to games like Gunner Heat PC, the commander (as long as he is alive) could call out enemy vehicles at various ranges, depending on your crew skill. (Within audible engine range at a 360 scope and within LOS at a slightly increased range).
And on the topic of network synchronization, almost everyone has noticed enemies rubberbanding at longer range and desynced turret positions. The latter part is especially visible if you are in an aircraft and an SPAA is shooting at you where instead of the tracers following you smoothly, you can see the turret just “snap” every second or so, something very noticeable because of the solid straight line of tracers that “jumps” every second or so.
This will also not give an advantage to cheaters, on the contrary it will remove one of their advantages. While the game’s anti-cheat doesn’t send any data to your game about enemies that are outside engine sound range or outside line of sight, it still sends data for players outside your keen vision view which means that cheaters can see you even outside their keen vision range. (You can test this yourself if you wish)
- Removed completely for RB/SB (Unrealistic)
- Render range replaced by callout range
- Nothing
(Removing the keen vision skill is very unrealistic as it is a core part of the game, plus it’d mean that everyone who spent time and money on upgrading that skill would just lose it all)
Depending on the outcome, I may make a proper suggestion about this in the appropriate section