Environmental Experiment on Databases for War Games

摘要

Environmental effects are frequently modeled in many war game simulations. The data for these environmental effects can be either default values within the game databases or data accessible from external database sources, such as the Navy's Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS) or the Total Atmosphere Ocean Services (TAOS). However, differences can occur in the data, even within the same data source, and the question arises whether those differences can produce significant changes in the play of a war game. This report describes an experiment that demonstrates that the difference is strategically important. Results show that significant effects can occur when data are obtained from the same source in two otherwise identical situations. If environmental data are not consistent, questionable results can occur within a simulation. Results that are derived from such a simulation may lead to wrong conclusions.