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Great question. I've always been curious exactly how the mechanics of a "war game" work - the technical mechanics. How exactly is a cruise missile simulated, how do you determine whether a ship is sunk, etc. I wonder if the software systems the mil uses literally have a simulation mode?

Anyone with details on this - some info would be hugely appreciated!

It's mostly simulated. The cost is in the simulation plus the tons of people it takes to create and run a game of this massive scale.

So basically its just a QuakeCon?

I'm guessing that alot of it was real, but stuff like cruise missile strikes would just be simulated due to the cost/risk.

"Risk" is a funny way of putting it.