There are several decisions which I didn't make yet.
1) limited mission area vs. free mission area. Yes .. we all want the second. But there really is a lot of complications. Game itself will be fun even on limited area (as DW is).
2) Real data or not. With limited area we could even do without actual world data. It has little effects on actual gameplay, especially multiplayer.
3) Rounded 3d model of ground or not. Earth is round. Sim needs to reflect it. With limited mission area flat sea again would simplify many things. Corrections would have to be done in sensors like radar, sure. I think DW has flat see in fact.
4) Resolution of real world data. If we have real world, what resolution do we need ? Size is the problem. Even if we get 10m resolution maps, that would be HUGE. I guess we would not have to go under 1km, with possible interpolation, which is what DW use. This is also questions of what your hardware can render. 100m squares with 20 km visibility is quite simple to do even without any smart methods. 10m squares call for very smart methods.
At the moment, (2) seems to answer to 'real world, sure'. I have some data. (4) at the moment says 100m rendered squares based on 3km real world squares. Easy to do (tested). (3) and (1) still not decided. I'm trying different mesh division/update/mapping methods, there really is many options, many problems. On the other hand it's quite fun. Will play more and decide later.
For really rounded earth also simulation of physics will get a bit complicated (up will not always be the same direction). But that is a challenge too and to have it entirely correct is nice thing to have.
Best would be to have non-limited mesh with 10m squares, based on real data with variable resolution (better where available), with correctly round globe. I'm working on THIS. But sometimes I just ask myself 'do we really need it ?'.
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