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Old 03-30-08, 02:19 PM   #14
Rockin Robbins
Navy Seal
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: DeLand, FL
Posts: 8,899
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100% historical?

That's a chimera. As soon as you find it, it changes into a different animal. To be 100% historical you would be confined to simply replicating every single move of a submarine throughout its patrol, being subject to each single historical event that took place on that cruise. You would not be playing a game or running a simulation. You would be reading a book or watching a movie. Even they are unhistorical because they make assumptions. For instance, they impute what likely words were spoken by the captain of the sub. One mistake in a single word makes the book or movie unhistorical.

All simulation is for one reason: to ask "what if." "What if" didn't happen, so the mere act of asking the question violates the historical integrity you worship. The first "what if" is "What if I were there?" Well, you weren't. If you are, that is unhistorical and you have violated your prime directive before you touch a lever on the submarine.

Wars are not run by automatons. The historical missions, Japanese traffic, all human behavior during the war was done in reaction to something done by other participants. The war was a big giant nested feedback loop. For instance, and not picking on Lurker in particular, but he's tough so why not!, by saying, I'm gonna make every Japanese ship go where a Japanese ship went during the war: the same ship, the same time. No loops for me, no sir. EVERYTHING they do is going to be what they did during the war.

No, it won't be. The Japanese during the war were reacting to the actions of US forces (just one feedback loop in the nested mess). Now you are there. They won't react to you. In the real war they would have. Therefore, the game is unhistorical and you are playing Quake. OK, you aren't playing Quake, but what you are playing is unhistorical because historically, the Japanese would have reacted to your sub running amok in their shipping lanes, sinking unhistorical amounts of tonnage and you would have been treated to some special aircraft, some special escorts sent your way. Guess what? That ain't gonna happen! All traffic is "historical." Historical my left testicle!!!!!

The only way to make the game totally historical is to kill it: take every vestige of life from the game and turn it into a boring college lecture. That's not why anybody, including you, bought the game.

So don't hold your breath. No "historically perfect" game is going to appear because that animal is as mythical as the chimera. If it did appear you wouldn't buy it. If you did you'd return it because there would be no player inputs in the "game."
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