With today's dev branch we begin to stage a bundle of changes that we collectively label as "Targeting improvements".
Today is the first iteration we pushed to gather some feedback and ideas.
Here's in short what you should look for:
Commanding
The indication of an assigned target you get as a subordinate got bolder, thicker and more visible. (subject to 'Commands' difficulty option)
The assigned target is now also indicated on the map (subject to 'Extended map content' difficulty option)
When the target is no longer seen by any of your squad mates it will fade and eventually disappear, so there should no longer be target icons floating over empty space (or at least not as much).
Crew communication
there's now a way to display where other crew members are aiming
the purpose of this is mainly to ease up a bit the commander's and gunner's job - abstract the awareness and communication they'd have IRL
we believe that this may be better for gameplay and also be a more intuitive way to do it instead of accurately modelling hunter-killer and slaving, which could pose several problems in multiplayer
bisclaimer: as for now it may not work in all configured vehicles, try Slammer UP
Weapon Systems
marking a target becomes dependable on the vehicle systems and sensors (in config called scanners) - so you can mark a target and seamlessly cycle through your weapons without loosing the designation.
marked target is indicated by brackets
a target that is no longer in your line of sight and its position is only estimated is indicated by a dashed square
once you select a weapon that can guide itself towards the target the icon will change into a full square and as soon as you get the target into your weapon launch acceptability region the weapon will start locking
locked target and lock acquisition indication has got slightly changed - when a full lock is acquired you'll see a small dot in the center
there's also a crossed square IFF indication when you mark a friendly target
we also want to differentiate between guidance or locking on a target - and - fire control systems that only assist firing with ballistic and unguided weapons (predicted impact point, lead computing, ...)
there's a new target lead indicator - currently configured for gunships, airplanes and AAAs
tank FCS has also slightly changed - the correct firing solution is now indicated by a green square
these systems currently allow you to mark about anything (will be fixed)
Targeting pods
all vanilla airplanes now feature a simple 'virtual' (not modeled) targeting pod with few elements in its UI. It can be accessed by pressing CTRL+RMB (by default)
it uses a feature called "pilotCamera" (Which has already been utilized on helicopters as a static down-looking slingloading assistant camera. A configuration example can be found in the samples on Steam.)
it's an early iteration (don't expect all features of it's mod counterpart (yet)
Note: config examples WIP
We're looking forward to your feedback!