[razark]

I can see the appeal of "One boat done really well". It's been the goal of many fight sims. Model one aircraft, visually and performance-wise, and let the player fly that.

The submarine war in the Pacific, however, doesn't fit into that mold, in my opinion.

As you said, earlier boats were "simply an earlier design evolution" (although, I'm not sure how well that holds for the S-boats), but the constantly improving fleet boat was a very important part of the submarine war in the Pacific. The war began with the earlier boats, some of them very old and outdated, not prepared to fight the kind of war they were being thrown into. As the war progressed, newer design features entered service, with the experience of the older boats directly influencing the newer, and the older boats themselves being modified to keep up. This stream of upgrades and refits adds very much to the feel of a Pacific subsim. Every boat had a part to play in the campaign, so every boat deserves a place in a sim.


That said, if one were to go for the "One boat done really well", I suppose a well done Gato would be the class that would make sense to see done.