I totally agree. This especially true for low-level attacks by fighter-bombers. I want the target to look as realistic as the aircraft I'm in.

B

Bad argument - especially in those high-speed-passes, you won't have much time looking at the objects on the ground. You won't notice if the train-engine between those trees is round or square with a look-like-round texture. You just see it's smoking and at one end of the train, so you shoot it.

But during the replay from a groundbased point of view, grounddetails becomes VERY important.

true...but i dont want to miss my shot in that high speed pass due to stutters and low fps.

You'll notice more than you think you'll notice. You just have to fly other combat flight sims and few if any have very convincing ground details and objects.

Detailed cockpits are very important to me, but considering that 90% of the time I'm accessing details outside my aircraft, makes the enviroment you fly in, no less important.

You have a point...however I might point out that the increased level of detail and the reflections/shadows will help with targeting and identification if your hardware is up to the task. I'm talking about "split second" glimpses of the targets on the ground...the mind can register an image in a split second and hold the "brains impression" of those details for a short time. We have all had the experience of looking out the cars window, as we speed down the road, and catching a "frozen moment" of someone walking down the road as we focus on them for a second...most of the outside world is blurred, but as our eyes dart around the landscape we catch short "pictures" of what is happening. Am I clear?

This detail could add to the experience...on a side note, my experience could be a "little" different then most, because I'm "far-sighted", I find that I'm frequently pointing out small details my friends missed.

No difference to what we already know from Il-2. All models we've seen the last couple of weeks so far are LOD0, the highest levels of detail a model knows. This only will be seen from very close, wich will be a very rare view from a plane's cockpit. You will still have your square-like smoking "something" at one end of a train because it's a LOD 2 or LOD3 model of an engine.

But, and that's the differnce, if you would step closer to each model in SoW, you will see much more details than before.

All will be fine ;)

That's exactly my point.

Who cares if it's painted bricks on the ground when you are flying at 30,000ft? Sure the landscape is important, but that's what the LOD is for and you don't need to have every valve on a train-engine so you can make out the type when divebombing from medium altitudes.

And ID-ing groundtargets is not only limited by your graphics card, but at those altitudes even more by your monitors resolution. ;)

Your assuming that only pilots will be buying/using the sim...I believe that there are grander dreams at work here.

There won't be each valve be modelled in SoW anyway ;)

You don't NEED to have each valve modeled.

But if you CAN model each valve, it won't kill it, anyway...

It adds to immersion. Flight simulators, and games in general, don't have their realism level determined by the major stuff. In this field, they are all very close to each other (when you talk about modern games) - nice graphics, good effects, immersive sounds... The difference is in detail. For example, you wouldn't even notice if in Rise of Flight the gun parts didn't move in external views when they are reloaded. But they do. Do you actually NEED to see a stupid gun moving? Or to see that AK-47 inside the truck and besides the driver on DCS? No. Can you do this without causing any major trouble? Yes. Will it add to immersion? Yes. So, why not to do it?

It's just my opinion, anyway, but I really think that, if you want to model something, model it to the maximum level of detail you can. It won't be perfect, but at least is the closer you can get to perfection.