A simulation of the Battle of Midway from the Japanese perspective. Japanese fighters with limited radio communication. Signal flag communication between naval vessels. Fog of war. Flight deck operations modeled. Fire control and damage control systems modeled.
Seems like a complex thing to model. One of the turning points of the battle was a flight of American dive bombers which followed the wake of a Japanese destroyer to the aircraft carriers. The destroyer had fallen behind while engaging the American submarine Nautilus.
I would probably enjoy that too. But note that the commander/player in such a game never actually sees the enemy; all they see is their own units taking off and landing, until the enemy attack planes arrive. There was no ship-on-ship combat at Midway, right?
The outcome of Midway was determined by an intelligence trick: a planted plaintext message about the condition of the desalination plant at Midway island. I wonder how you'd model that sort of thing. Also, there was an incident where an outbound US attack squadron eyeballed an incoming Japanese attack force. What are the chances of that, and how do you model it?
In general, modelling intelligence seems to be hard; I've neveer seen it tried, except in a very abstract way.
I would model the situation as it existed about a day before the first attack on the island of Midway. Japanese forces required to adhere to their doctrinal search pattern, which was deficient. Basically, both forces required to adhere to their existing doctrine at that time. Japanese aviation superior at that time due to American inexperience in countering Japanese dogfighting (with hit-and-run tactics). American fire and damage control operations superior to the Japanese. Japanese and American flight operations very different.
There is still a problem that we know where the American forces were and when they were encountered. Probably would need an option for an ahistorical start, where the American carriers could navigate from Pearl to a different location off of Midway.
Further options: allow the Japanese to have Shokaku and Zuikaku participate in the battle (assume they were not damaged in the Battle of Coral Sea); allow the Japanese to structure their attacking fleet differently; etc
An important detail of the battle of midway was the Japanese didn’t think the American carriers were present. If they knew from the get go then the out come very likely would’ve been different. I.e. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Santa_Cruz_Isl...
In the game, the Japanese would not be surprised.
I think the concept could work. Just choose a different battle. :)
Seems like a complex thing to model. One of the turning points of the battle was a flight of American dive bombers which followed the wake of a Japanese destroyer to the aircraft carriers. The destroyer had fallen behind while engaging the American submarine Nautilus.