Why not use native? ...
Here's the way I understand the issue of using a lower resolution to see "dots" (aircraft or ships) better.
When aircraft or ships first come in to view at a distance, they are dots. Those dots are made up of a block of pixels (4 pixels I think, let's assume that's the the right number). It doesn't matter what resolution you're running, a dot will always consist of 4 pixels. So 4 pixels at 1024x768 will be a larger dot on the screen than 4 pixels at 1600x900 or 1920x1080, and therefore easier to see. 4 pixels at a high resolution will be very small and tend to blend into the background.
Also I would think you'd be able to see the dots better if you have anti-aliasing turned off, because the purpose of anti-aliasing is to blend and smooth edges so you don't get the "jaggies". But when you're dealing with a 4-pixel block to begin with, anti-aliasing would probably blend and smooth those pixels into nothingness. You want those 4 pixels to be as jagged and stand out as much as possible.
It's not quite as pretty running the game at 1024x768 with AA turned off, but it seems to help you spot things farther out.
There may be some other settings you can do with your graphics card or game to bring out the dots better at higher resolutions, but if so, I don't know what they are.
