hey there, just registered to add my 2 cents.
i'm not a big arma player (yet) but I love sim oriented games.
i'm a huge aviation enthusiast, and i gotta say i'm a bit frustrated by the plane/heli controls in the game, but as some mentioned, it's not an aviation sim at the core, so i don't complain too much about that.
still, about flares, i believe they should be implemented.
either that, or make target acquisition for AA require a bit more skill.
for example, maybe it should take a bit more time to get a solid lock (i don't care about realism here, no idea how long it takes to actually get a lock IRL, i've never fired a manpad and don't plan to :) i'm more towards gameplay)
it should be that the AA player doesn't just think "oh look a plane" and go click BAM, but should consider it like "ok i've got only 1 missile, let's try to get it right so it does hit the target"
i suppose the angle at which the missile flies to the target should be taken in consideration; maybe when you shoot at a target sideways, the missile will have a harder time to steer towards that nice IR source.
but well that would help fast moving planes, but not helis...
hence another idea: I think the way flares were used in BF2 was ok:
the thing is, you drop flares PRIOR to getting the missile shot, so the operator has trouble locking onto you because the heat seeking will tend to lock on the hot flares... giving you a few seconds to evade.
then, they could either just implement a flare popping button so you spam some when going for a run, or, you can at least get a warning that someone is trying to lock you (again, i don't care about realism here, but gameplay. if arma was totally realistic... well. air enthusiasts will agree with me, planes wouldn't really be the way they are :) ) so you can try some kind of evasive manoeuver (trying to get behind a hill, or something)
flares shouldn't be a PERFECT escape. because otherwise you just keep spamming when doing a strafe run and you're invincible...
it should be that, even if you use flares, if AA is shot your way from the right angle (i suppose it should be from behind ?), it would still lock easier on you than on the flares... (and again... i insist... i'm thinking gameplay wise)
