Ok so whats next?

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by IceFire

But with branching...say the enemy sinks your carrier or destroys a vital objective. Then in theory it could change the course of history. Or it could be small scale enough to not matter to the whole war but matter to you on the front.

It doesn't need to be that dramatic. Branching could be used for campaigns where you don't change history.

E.g.,

Assigned target
> knocked out > next objective
> not knocked out > fly another mission against it.

Squadron takes losses

> below X threshold > continues operations.
> above X threshold > halts operations.

Mission performance
> player performs well > given greater responsibility on future missions.
> player performs badly > given less responsibility on future missions.
> player performs amazingly well > recruited for special missions.
> player screws up entirely > demoted/transferred/court martialed/shot.

Squadron performance
> squadron does well > gets better missions/guards status/unit citations.
> squadron does badly > gets worse missions/senior officers demoted/transferred/shot.