I am going to say it is both more difficult and easier in the game. what a conundrum! it is easier because there are tools in the planning phase to analyze the terrain quite well. the LOS tool and just plain old 3D to take a look around. you get to pick a spot on the map and just pop in. in RL, you have to go there to do the same analysis. this is intrinsically more difficult, you have to walk, drive, and spend the time. i did many 'terrain walks' in the cold war period to analyze terrain vs. battle plans, revise said battle plans, confirm said battle plans, etc. it does take quite some amount of time to do. but there is nothing like boots on the ground. period. it also takes some amount of experience to analyze the terrain vs your units capabilities vs the mission at hand. the good news with SBPPE and such is you get to learn without any risk of loss of life. and it does equate to RL at some level. that is why it is a good training tool not only for armored crewman, but lower level command staff as well. i say lower level because of the sheer number of objects that would be required to put a division, or even a brigade, in a scenario. it would probably kill most if not all computers. plus the higher up you go the more support capabilities are present at those levels - also somewhat of a challenge to emulate. my guess is GibsonM will have more insight as to the level of command this 'game' is useful at, and others may as well. hope this helps and i am not too far off, these are my observations.