Are the WP effects going to be upgraded with EDGE? Currently the WP rockets are nothing short of worthless for marking targets, they look like some small firecracker well past its expiration date. They're a far cry from the high, bright billowing clouds you'll see if you e.g. look at pictures from FACs in the Vietnam war.

Can't see it catching on myself..

No issues with the WP rockets here. Or any of the smoke effects. Able to see them quite clearly and use them to find targets effectively.

Surely you can't dispute that there's a large difference between the large billowing bright cloud in the above picture, and the thin, short compact grey sizzle from the WP rockets in game?

There're huge differences between display cards as regards smoke rendering, so a case of YMMV perhaps? But yeah, there may well be something wrong with the new smoke too, can't test myself since I'm away from the simming rig until Christmas...

Indeed, a pic coming right up:


Follow the river going diagonally through the picture. About 3/4 down the clearing, that little gray speck is the smoke. That's fully zoomed in from a slant range of 3 miles, with all graphics maxed out. At this point the rocket had been smoking for ~30 seconds, so it never did get any larger than that. The difference between this and the Vietnam picture Harry posted above are such that I simply don't see how smoke is going to be useful for marking anything.

They "work" but they work significantly less effectively than in reality. The main issue with WP rockets etc at present is that they simply emit a steady stream of smoke for a set time period somewhat like a screening smoke grenade, that is not what WP rockets/bombs/shells actually do.

WP warheads essentially explode spreading burning white phosphorus over a area (area size dependant on warhead type) all in one go. This produces a large smoke cloud very quickly, rather than a small billowing column. And on top of this WP also has a secondary incendiary function. And of course the smoke cloud should be affected by wind.

See video for a reasonable example.
http://youtu.be/JDc5NoQAD_A?t=54s

Incidentally, training warheads such as those on the BDU-33 or M271 rocket has a similar effect, albeit a much smaller flash/smoke puff without the incendiary effects. Again there's no "smoke column for x seconds".