Naval Search and Altitude

[fflaguna]

Does flying at a higher altitude increase the chance of spotting a fleet during Naval Search missions? Thanks!

[jetjockey]

Good question. I personally use the default 6K, it seems to work well. At higher alts. it gets progressively more difficult to spot even a CV's wake, what with the haze and underlying clouds, but I don't how the game handles spotting. I would also like to know if a TF's speed affects spotting.

[pompack]

ORIGINAL: fflaguna

Does flying at a higher altitude increase the chance of spotting a fleet during Naval Search missions? Thanks!

I am not sure, but I do not think so. I generally fly routine missions at the default 6k. Now altitude definitely affects your vulnerablity to flak (higher is better) and bombing accuracy (lower is better).

So I generally fly ASW missions in totally safe areas at 1k just in case I get a shot off at a sub. I stay at 6k for armed recon where I may get a chance to bomb a merchie and I go up to 15k where I am hunting for SAGs and CTFs with nasty flak.

[Smeulders]

The higher, the worse the spotting gets, not surprising, as the higher up you go, the smaller ships look. The trade-off is that at higher altitudes you'll lose less planes to op losses.