The aircraft-spotting mechanic in Arcade mode should be removed – SPAA can keep the lead indicator, but player IDs and aircraft models shouldn’t be shown

Game Discussion Arcade Battle
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1

I’ve noticed a completely absurd phenomenon in Arcade mode:

Vehicles without radar (like the Strela-10M2) are actually stronger than those with advanced radar (like the CLAWS).

This isn’t just my feeling — it’s a problem with the mechanics.

🔍 What’s the issue?

Arcade mode has a “global spotting” mechanic: as soon as an aircraft enters a certain range (or is spotted by a teammate), its ID, model, and distance are displayed on everyone’s screen.

This feature might have been intended to help new players find targets more easily, but it has a critical side effect:

Radar becomes completely irrelevant.

Type of SPAA Real-world design logic Current situation in Arcade
Vehicles with radar (e.g., CLAWS, ADATS) Need to activate radar to search for and lock targets The map already tells me where the aircraft is before I even turn on my radar
Vehicles without radar (e.g., Strela-10M2) In reality, they rely on visual acquisition or sound – very limited Thanks to the map spotting mechanic, they get “free full-map radar”

The result:

· Strela-10M2: Despite having no radar, it instantly knows where every aircraft is, thanks to the spotting mechanic.
· CLAWS: The advanced radar I spent hundreds of thousands of RP on? Completely useless in Arcade mode.

📊 Comparison between game modes

Mode Vehicles with radar Vehicles without radar Is this fair?
Realistic Battle Radar provides an information advantage Must rely on visual search – very limited ✅ Yes
Arcade (current state) Radar is useless – the map tells you everything Get free spotting through map mechanics ❌ No
Arcade (how it should be) Radar should be a core advantage Should require visual acquisition ✅ Yes

🎯 Who benefits? Who suffers?

Beneficiaries: SPAA without radar

· No need to research radar modules, no need to turn it on, no need to manage it
· Get “free full-map detection” just from the game mechanics

Victims:

  1. Players using radar-equipped SPAA – They grind for dozens of hours to unlock advanced radar, only to find it’s completely pointless
  2. Low-altitude aircraft – They try to hug the terrain, only to be locked onto by radar-less vehicles using map spotting

💡 My suggestion

  1. Rework the aircraft-spotting mechanic in Arcade mode

· Aircraft should not automatically display ID and model on the map
· Only after being locked by radar should their approximate position appear on the minimap
· If not locked → no display. This would actually give radar a purpose.

  1. Keep or improve the lead indicator for SPAA

· Vehicles with radar: provide a precise lead indicator after locking
· Vehicles without radar: require manual aiming, maybe with a simplified ballistic marker – but they shouldn’t know exactly what they’re shooting at before even seeing it

  1. Benefits of these changes

· ✅ Radar becomes a meaningful feature again
· ✅ Encourages proper use of radar mechanics instead of map cheating
· ✅ Gives aircraft more room to maneuver instead of being spotted instantly by radar-less vehicles

One last thing

I’m not saying the Strela-10M2 shouldn’t be strong.
I’m saying it shouldn’t be strong in a completely artificial way.

If it had radar and was strong, I’d accept that.
But it doesn’t. It just abuses Arcade’s map-spotting mechanic to get better situational awareness than vehicles that actually have radar.

That’s not balance.
That’s bad game design.

Either remove automatic aircraft spotting in Arcade, or give every SPAA a fake radar.

2

Posting this again?

3

Until gaijin stop pretending to be blind.

4

You are worried about the spotting in regard to YOUR spaa, but ignore the “few” light tanks that have the same problems.

It is arcade, plan your research accordingly.

1 Like
5

So to “balance” the SPAA we need to completely change the long established mechanic that would affect ALL the SPAAs throughout all the BRs? What a joke.

6

This is a reasonable request. Gaijin removed the vehicle spotting mechanic for CAS aircraft, so why can’t they change the air spotting mechanic for SPAA? Right now, the spawn rate for bombers in top-tier matches is pathetically low. As soon as a bomber spawns, a bunch of low-tier SPAA without radar (like the Strela-10M) will shoot you down or target your bombs. It’s ridiculous to still be afraid of low-tier SPAA in top-tier matches. If you want to provide air support, your only option is to spawn a plane with rockets and try to strafe targets from a long distance. But because these low-tier SPAA are all-in-one systems (they don’t require separate launch vehicles) , they can just fire their missiles and drive away, meaning you’ll likely return to base with nothing to show for it. The tech trees are being updated with new vehicles, yet the game mechanics remain stagnant. It’s ridiculous and stupid.

7

Oh, I misunderstood. What you meant was that light tanks using proximity fuse rounds with optical tracking for anti-air might be the issue? So the suggestion is to apply the removal of the aircraft spotting mechanic to all vehicles for the sake of balance.

8

Because the purpose of FIGHTER CAS aircraft is basically same with the purpose of SPAA in the arcade. So they only can remove the markers from tanks if you want to make such comparison. ATTACKER and BOMBER CAS planes still have every marker as their purpose is to destroy ground targets.

9

No, I mean that light tanks in arcade are at a general disadvantage of being usually visible from afar. Which changes their battle value significantly.

10

This is both unbalanced and balanced. It’s unbalanced because light tanks lose their flanking opportunities, but it’s balanced because everyone is in the same situation.

11

Everyone with light tanks, everyone with that spaa… “balanced”.

12

Light tanks are fairly weakened because there’s no significant technological gap between them—no component becomes completely useless.

But SPAA is unfairly strengthened—the radar on split-type SPAA becomes a decoration, and the need to rely on radar lock for launching turns into a disadvantage, while the separately deployed launcher vehicles become sitting ducks.

Low-tier all-in-one SPAA without radar, on the other hand, don’t need to set up or depend on radar at all—they can easily shoot down aircraft using just optical tracking. The more advanced the technology, the worse it performs in-game. That’s the most absurd part.