Tried to do atc tonight (after saying i was gonna try that out for months lol) Quickly figured out 2 things. 1, i need a compass map overlay. and 2, that pilots are no longer auto placed in a group. This is important for my ability to direct them toward enemy targets. If we aren’t in the same group then we wont see the same things on the map. SOOO what i;m asking is, i know there’s some peeps that make mods on here. If we could get those two things going then we could have some good ATC. Another thing i thought of, if anyone does terrain edits is proper taxiways. Sure we got a few but some of them have concrete next to em, some are too close to the runway etc… but thats not as important as being able to guide aircraft so compass overlay on map, all pilots in the same group 
No mods are needed.
Groups are voluntary as following the ATC instructions is voluntary. You can creat a group with the ‘U’ key and invite players into it.
Second there is a compass on the map by default, you may have moved yours off the screen. If that is the case, Delete the following entries inside your .Arma3Profile @ \Arma 3 - Other Profiles\ Folder then restart Arma.
class MainMap
{
class Compass
{
inBack=1;
position[]={0.091989368,-0.0070387735,0.2};
positionBack[]={0.15568948,-0.001002105,0.2};
};
};
Aside of what Vile said, the pilots do get placed in the same group, if you ask the correct person, I’ll explain.
Whenever I’m planning to be around as I pilot I at first pay attention to the first pilot slot. If there’s someone in it, you then have to make sure to remember his/her name.
Once you set up, get on teamspeak and so on, and see that the classical “Vortex pilots” pilots group is not around, just call that person out, and once you get a response, kindly ask them to create a group, if they ask why, explain them the following: The first pilot slot will automatically create and drag all of the other pilots to the same group.
Then, as ATC simply join that group aswell. Voilà, you’ve done it!
I have no idea why, but it has been like that for a while, and I got sort of used to this, even though I didn’t remember this as a thing from earlier.
I have the little compass. Im talkin a big compass the size of your screen over the map. so that at the edges you always have the direction. As for the groups, i was on last night and every pilot was in “ungrouped” where they used to just automatically get placed in the same squad. The pilots in the channel agree’d that’s how it used to be.
In the attached picture you can see how the compass ring is around the radar map. We don’t have a radar perse but having it around the map would help.
As much as I would love a system like this, the issue is that this form of ATC is based on IFR. Instrument flight rules. and IFR is used in the real world for long range operations, or in weather conditions that would restrict Visual Flight Rules being available. Altis is way too small of an area to be giving aircraft compass bearings in a practical way. My method of solving the issue of giving flight directions or patterns is by marking points e.g Point X-Ray, on the approach pattern of a runway at a distance suitable as a final stretch. itl be said as “Tower, A-10, Request landing” “A-10. Tower, Make visual approach, link point X-Ray, Runway 04R, Report final”… “Tower, A-10, On final” “A-10, Cleared to land Runway 04R”
Essentially these map marks are doing a simplification of navigation to where you dont need to give compass headings to be specific. ultimately IFR based rules with giving aircraft turns on compass bearings and such just isnt practical on this small of a scale, and in conditions that are nearly always clear. Love the suggestion though.
And P.S, Directing friendlys towards enemy aircraft can be done simply based on the “O’ Clock” position of an enemy to a friendly, or by giving “N, E, S, W, NE, NW.” ect Because your map will always face compass north.
I have asked claws to look into implementing a few scripts for ATC
The first feature would be -
Shows friendly & civilian planes on map with name, speed,
altitude, and heading. Useful when commanding multiple
planes. Information lines are consisted of the following
three lines :
Pilot’s Name or Callsign
Altitude Speed
Heading
I am also looking to make a full-screen map overlay compass with the ability to calculate a heading from one object to another using a skew feature where you draw a line between 2 points and it will provide heading and distance to intercept.
oh no i knew it could never ever be as in depth but just a compass overlay on the map would be good enough to direct traffic. Problem is I don’t know much about modding and such. I just saw a need and threw it out there in case anyone felt like it. I used to run ATC/Awacs for my FSX naval realism group once upon a time. Now that can get intense lol fun times tho. I tried to use the little compass but was often off by 20+/- degrees. If i had that compass over the map tho and the ability to see enemy air on the map I could make it about as professional as possible given the limitations of the game.
Now this sounds awesome, I was only hoping for a compass overlay haha