Nice to see a fellow fan of PG
Depends which one you played Minuteman,if you played part one in 1994 the map scale was indeed huge,take Operation Barbarossa,one would start in Poland and at the end of 13 turns one would be in Smolensk,that´s several hundred miles in reality, or the Stalingrad campaign stretching from the western Black Sea to the Caspian.The later parts were reduced in map scale.In general want to see the combat system though,which simply was a lot better than that of Civ.
~Difference between Hard/Soft/Air/Naval Targets,and units defense/offense ability towards them
~Supplies,ammo,fuel
~Units gained experience up to 599 points,not just 5hp,thus creating a proper diversity between conscripts and elites and gave units a tradition,making the player like them.Also units fight according to their status(elites would inflict heavier casualties etc.)
~Units could have elite or normal replacements,think this makes the most sense for civ since it would reflect a militaristics civs advantages,and the replacements would get worse if money ran out,due to less training etc.
~Proper Air/Naval units,and difference in height
Could go on and on,think it would be pretty easy to implement too,and would create a much better game,consider ammo running out because one is cut off from saltpeter,or tanks being stranded because lack of oil.But would have to be combined with a proper trade system.Hope they take this into account one day.
Last thing;naming units,I´d love to see tradition in my army
Btw you´re absolutely right concerning elite units,the air units were tough to destroy,but looking at history were so often elite units really held out against great odds,it makes all the more sense,oh morale would be cool too.
EDIT:Almost forgot one of the most important things,the fact that units would not have to be destroyed,they would try to retreat, take or create heavy casualties,as for this thread,remember how a Stuka dive bomber would most likely take heavy pounding attacking a battleship.