toggle measurements and acronyms

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All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> Flashpoint Campaigns Series >> Requested Features and Ideas >> toggle measurements and acronyms

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toggle measurements and acronyms - 7/26/2016 4:42:14 AM

KesaAnna

Posts: 3
Joined: 7/23/2016
Status: offline

A toggle feature that substitutes 0300 with 3:00 AM .

Also , yards ( ? ) instead of meters. I am pretty confident that to the average American ( I'm guessing a lot of people who would play this game are American, and non-military ) 3000 meters means you might as well be speaking Attic Greek.

All of the above could be chalked up to the players ignorance and / or laziness , but this last is a genuine beef ; replacing acronyms with actual English.
Give me a break, it really is not that much harder to type --- especially when you are only going to be typing it once and permanently --- " anti-tank " , instead of "AT" .
This excessive profusion of acronyms in military-speak is an annoying affectation .
The purpose of language, presumably, is to foster enlightenment, not obscurity.

I have been playing war games since the 1970's , and studying military science as a hobby as long, and EVERY DAY I encounter ANOTHER acronym I then have to look up ! ( IF I can find anywhere to look it up . ) It's ridiculous !

It is one reason why, aesthetically, I prefer the Warsaw Pact / Soviets ; At least their writings are actually readable.

Now I realize that the necessarily small size of the unit info cards and the commanders notebook calls for a large degree of abbreviation. So I would at least ask for a 50 - to - 200 page section ( Yes, you use acronyms that much ) in the manual that defines all of these acronyms . That is, that TRANSLATES them into an ACTUAL LANGUAGE.

Post #: 1

RE: toggle measurements and acronyms - 7/26/2016 3:31:08 PM

CapnDarwin

Posts: 8467
Joined: 2/12/2005
From: Newark, OH
Status: offline

I can see a time format toggle. Distance may be feasible but it is used in a lot of places that may be more of a challenge to code up right. The best we can do with abbreviations is to have a page or two of the common ones in our planned Battlefield Primer guide and that could be called up in game. From a UI standpoint, the spacing deltas would be a nightmare to deal with. More so with the wide array of OSs and screen resolutions. All of these are good ideas for us to consider as we work on the new game engine. We do want the game to be more approachable to new players.

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OTS is looking forward to Southern Storm getting released!

Cap'n Darwin aka Jim Snyder
On Target Simulations LLC

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Post #: 2

RE: toggle measurements and acronyms - 7/26/2016 4:57:46 PM

BeirutDude

Posts: 2625
Joined: 4/27/2013
From: Jacksonville, FL, USA
Status: offline

Being ex-military the acronyms don't bother me but I can see were they could be daunting to the uninitiated. To my mind there are distance converters available online for the distance issues...

Just my take.

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Post #: 3

RE: toggle measurements and acronyms - 7/26/2016 5:19:44 PM

BeirutDude

Posts: 2625
Joined: 4/27/2013
From: Jacksonville, FL, USA
Status: offline

If it helps

400 meters is about 1/4 statue mile (8/10s of a hex)
800 meters is about 1/2 mile (about 1 1/2 hexes)
1600 meters is about 1 Statue mile (SM) or about 3 hexes
2400 meters is about 1 1/2 SM or about 5 hexes
3200 meters is about 2 SM or about 6 hexes
4000 meters is about 2 1/2 SM or 8 hexes
8000 meters about 5 SM or 16 hexes.

I Hope that helps put the game scale into English (American

) units!

Al

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RE: toggle measurements and acronyms - 7/26/2016 5:35:42 PM

CapnDarwin

Posts: 8467
Joined: 2/12/2005
From: Newark, OH
Status: offline

The issue on units of measurement extends into the pen and armor values as well. The math will be odd since the game is built on 500 meter hexes (546.8 yards). It becomes a matter of UI design and utilization and the added code overhead to convert every where info gets displayed. The design team needs to weigh these issues. Plus the data is metric based and that can't change. Not a trivial situation.

_____________________________

OTS is looking forward to Southern Storm getting released!

Cap'n Darwin aka Jim Snyder
On Target Simulations LLC

(in reply to BeirutDude)

Post #: 5

RE: toggle measurements and acronyms - 7/26/2016 5:58:34 PM

Mad Russian

Posts: 13256
Joined: 3/16/2008
From: Texas
Status: offline

The short cut answer for meters is make them equivalent. At the scale in the game you won't be far off.

4000 meters = 4000 yards. Not perfect but quick and fairly accurate.

Good Hunting.

MR

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Panzer Command Ostfront Development Team.
Flashpoint Campaigns: Red Storm Development Team.

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Post #: 6