Devlog · July 22, 2026

Cockpit Assists and Flight Readability: Local Flight Corrections

Focused on cockpit assists and field readability so flight state, aiming cues, and nearby aircraft are easier to trust.

Changes

• Freed spawn slots after short-lived wrecks expire, so crashed aircraft stop blocking field availability once the aftermath has been visible long enough to read.
• Stabilized aircraft shadow coverage by accumulating each shadow footprint once, reducing flicker or missing patches where overlapping passes used to fight each other.
• Deferred engine power falloff until higher altitude, preserving climb and fight energy through normal arena heights before thin-air behavior starts to matter.
• Armed lead assist at nameplate range with a sticky exit band, so the cue appears when the target is already readable and does not flicker off at the edge.
• Added close-pursuit lead-pip hysteresis and takeover margins so the aiming cue holds the right target through merges instead of jumping between nearby aircraft.
• Started wreck cleanup only after ground settle and delivered removal events to relevant clients, so falling wrecks remain visible before disappearing cleanly.
• Stabilized horizon sky-band thickness while banking, keeping the sky and ground split consistent when the aircraft rolls hard near the horizon.
• Smoothed local flight corrections so control input and server reconciliation line up with fewer visible snap-backs.