Yeah, it was a failure to really understand the big picture. It's like they had a kid's picture book about the Pacific War, and made maps of the areas on the map with an explosion icon on them were a battle took place, lol.
Never mind that many were very one-sided and sort of pointless (from a PF standpoint)
One really funny thing (to me) is that the Tarawa map is big enough that there should be other islands on there, but there are none. You could easily have had places so that the map would at least be useful online with each side having an island.
Part of the problem is simply scale. The PTO is HUGE. Not that big maps are impossible, they are not. Timing is also and issue. Once an area fell, it tended to stay that way until it flipped back after an allied invasion. Given the distances, it makes for poor campaign play unless the map areas are very artfully picked.
While it is entirely possible to make the Slot in one map (without any FR issues at all), even had they merely made the map go NW as far as the Russell Islands it would have made sense. They could have broken it up.
The extant Papua map (know as "New Guinea" in PF) is fine for a few months, but it would have been worth abandoning other maps to then do a proper New Guinea farther west.
Really, playing to the strengths of the game engine, Burma would probably have been the best choice. Maps for the fall, and later recapture by the Allies. Maps in the middle for the period with a sort of static front with various AFs operating at once. A true "Forgotten Battle" as well.
tater
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