[Rockin Robbins]

Part of the problem with RSRD is that unless there is some kind of semi-official record of traffic, then it didn't exist. Early in the War, 1942 and most of 1943 that was a Japanese ocean and OF COURSE they didn't register their ship movements through US channels so we could make future games accurate. They didn't even bother to give Ubi headquarters a phone call!

So because we had no decent monitoring ability in the Japanese Ocean, and after war records there tended to be destroyed, altered and lost, we just assume that no information means no ships? YES!!!! And so we have nothing to find in the early war.

It's no coincidence that after we had some success and could operate in larger parts of the Pacific we had more knowledge of deployments and suddenly our game traffic blossoms.

There are so many problems of making a purely "historical" campaign mod. Yes, it's fun to check out the Tokyo Express coming down the Slot, but I wonder if we give up too much for the thrill. Thinking back, my most memorable encounters in SH4 have happened without RSRD.

The other aspect of RSRD is that it emphasizes the operations of warships. The one lesson of WWII in the Pacific was that our subs were next to useless against warships. They were four times faster than a submerged sub and so the chance of getting a shot was poor. Add that to the negative consequences of reprisal, being forced down long enough for all targets to be in a position from which you can no longer attack them IF you survive. Warships were not profitable targets for our submarines outside of lucky encounters where the warship decided to pose compliantly while we sent presents their way. That didn't happen often. The best warship target out there was a destroyer.