With a few exceptions (like not being able to photograph land units), the campaign system was very well thought out, IMO. The campaign.cfg system that allows new content to be added as a new layer, only loaded when needed is a lovely paradign to work in. Kudos to whoever thought of it.
The patrol system is almost equally as complex. The bones are there in both systems, but clearly they lacked the time to do everything with it that it is capable of. They barely scratched the surface, IMO.
There are some "brute force" techniques I was planning on using. If you happen to put into port in narrow timeframes, you could get a mission set that is ONLY good for that time period. Any boat putting into PH such that they'll be out to sea in late june, for example, should have ONE possible mission, deploy as a screen to Midway and look for the japs. I could make another that goes into the mix with others, but only for a short period in June, for example, that is Empire waters, but it's to watch the exits from a major naval anchorage for the jap fleet. Many others are possible. I need to add some for just before Guadalcanal is invaded for the pig boats out of Brisbane, for example. Another set would be in place of (or addition to) the current "Philipines" set for the pig boats at the start of the war. Call them "PhilipinesCloseDefense" The Salmons and Sargos might get some "HarborWatch" missions which would place them in close blockade of places like Camranh Bay.
These are not hard to do, it's just loads of scut work.
Another simple "fix" to the patrols will be to rewrite the briefs. Make them read better to be more immersive. Some missions that are kind of dumb now could be far more compelling with a little back story in the brief. WHY you are delivering supplies to the other side of the Philipines, or whatever.
tater
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