CarlZog

I enjoyed your discussion of the possibility of having a "forever" game. I can't imagine having a game in which I'm playing against the computer fill that role, but then I'm a far more avid tabletop gamer than I am a PC gamer. In that vein, two games I know I'll be playing for the rest of my life are Star Fleet Battles and Advanced Squad Leader. Admittedly, both tactical games, but the depth of depicted detail means I'll probably never know -- much less be able to master -- all of it, and the huge breadth of scenarios for each of them means I could face new challenges and narratives all the time. Combine those features with the infinite unpredictability of human opponents, and it becomes much easier to see how some people gravitate to playing only one game.

Modern naval combat and games were conspicuously absent from this discussion. In games like the Harpoon series, Fleet Command, Dangerous Waters and others (to say nothing of pure sub sims), gathering info on the enemy is THE central focus of the game. This is an accurate reflection of the significance of detection in modern naval combat. From a game standpoint, this has frequently been represented by standardized symbols conveying varying degrees of info -- from a simple bearing line to a fully detailed contact. I've always wondered these conventions haven't found wider use in other wargaming.