How will dates be handled?

[Veer]

Don't know if this has been brought up before, but i'm wondering how dates will be handled? Like when it's Dec the 7th in Tokyo, it's Dec 6th in US, so which date will the player see? What about the intl date line? I see this as being a problem for the Allies as India, Australia and the US had vastly differing time zones.
Also, how with the night/day phases be handled. Like when it's night in the Indian Ocean, it will be day in the US, so....

[Zakhal]

Maybe just use ZULU time.

Or does somone want timelines in the game...just for the sake of historical accuracy?.

[Raverdave]

Originally posted by Zakhal
Maybe just use ZULU time.

Or does somone want timelines in the game...just for the sake of historical accuracy?.

[Snigbert]

Turn One is 12/7/41, so I guess they just went with the Western date.

[Fred98]

I would like to see the date format changed.

It should read 7 Dec 1941

The 12th July is very strange start date.

[coralsaw]

Indeed, for all us non-american or japanese players it would be great if the system picked the date format from the OS preferences.

/coralsaw

[Snigbert]

WITP= Made in the USA

Learn to conform to our date system of fall to the wayside

[Feinder]

"How will dates be handled?"

As much as possible.

(*grin*)
-F-

[Aussie]

How about giving people a choice of date formats, such as:

- The Japanese calendar system (x years since 1st emperor ascended throne)
- the American format
- the rest of the world date format
- an old fashioned one like 'The sixth day of the seventh month of the year of our Lord 1942'
- Stardates (anyone a Trekkie?)

Any more ideas?

[bradfordkay]

Since the majority of the map falls west of the Int'l Date Line, it seems to me that the game should use the date that corresponds to most of the map. If we're going to get nit-picky, wouldn't it be evening in India when the sun rises in San Francisco? I doubt that the game is going to run night hours across the map as they occur IRL, so I can understand the desire to simplify matters by just choosing to use the date that is in effect on the majority of the map.

[Fred98]

To quote Snigbert:
“WITP= Made in the USA
Learn to conform to our date system of fall to the wayside”

I am aware this comment was made in good humour.

Did you notice that I asked for the date format to be: 7 Dec 1941

That date format satisfies everybody.

Did you know that when the US exports goods, they are riddled with spelling mistakes? If I sent goods to your country you would expect the spelling on the packaging to be correct.

I work for a global company with head office in Germany. Last week our New York office made a change to our global computer system. They never asked whether the change would affect another office. It has adversely affected ours.

Is New York going to apologise and change it back? Nope, we have to change

Why is it always so?

[Snigbert]

And for that matter, why does the aviation and maritime industry force other countries to use English as a standard language?

I guess life just isn't fair. I wouldn't characterize all Americans as not knowing how to spell, though. I receive a lot of packages from other countries (especially Asia) with poor spelling.

[Veer]

Originally posted by Snigbert

I guess life just isn't fair. I wouldn't characterize all Americans as not knowing how to spell, though. I receive a lot of packages from other countries (especially Asia) with poor spelling.

In Chinese? Or are you talking about English?

[elcid]

The Japanese ONLY use one date system and only one time zone, regardless of where they went. What we call Tokyo Time. And most of the theater is West of the Dateline anyway - Hawaii and the Aleutians being the major exceptions and French Polynesia the minor one IF it is even on the map. This game is also an international effort, with major staff in Australia. So IMHP the Eastern date should be used, placing Pearl Harbor at 8 December, 1941. I also wonder if the war must begin EXACTLY on that day? I really did not, you know. The Pacific Campaign of WWII properly begins much earlier, in 1937, in China, and combat is continuous there until 1945. And the entry of the Colonial powers, and minor nations (e.g. Thailand), is a function of Japanese strategy, which ought not be cast in concrete except in historical scenarios. And the really big IF is Russia - a problem that may be unsolvable from Japan's point of view - but a problem which WAS solved in the Russo-Japanese war - and the Japanes should be allowed to try if they want to.

[AmiralLaurent]

I love this one, depending of what you want:

_ Australian time
_ US time
_ Japanese time
_ turn number

Choice given to the player and depending of the general settings of your computer.

In PBEM, you're turn 5 of the full Pacific war, but it's 11 December for US, 12 for Australia and I don't know for Japanese and each PBEMer will see what he wants to see.

[tiredoftryingnames]

Next someone will want it tied to seasonal crop rotation periods of the Yun River area. The date at the top is for reference and is used for reinforcements. Since both sides gets the same 12 hour impulse for turn execution does it really matter about time zones in game terms? If units are close enough to do battle would it matter if they were in a different time zone because they were along the date line? I've played board games for years that were global in scale and not once have I ran across a problem with Germany moving it's units before Japan even though it's dawn in Japan first.