What naval games can and cannot show

How useful are naval games as historical tools?

They are useful for illustration and exploration, but rigorous scenario testing needs a model that can be set up carefully and run repeatedly.

The discussion distinguishes a game used to show ship layouts and an accessible battle from a simulation used to test a scenario many times. Ultimate Admiral: Dreadnoughts was useful as an illustration because ships could be built to resemble historical designs and an AI could control both sides without human steering of the result. Removing that AI battle control weakens its value for a visibly fair demonstration. A customized Harpoon setup is less attractive to show on screen but can repeat the same formation or aviation battle thousands of times, producing a statistical distribution instead of one dramatic outcome. A game's value as an illustration or entertainment does not establish its value as evidence from repeated simulation.