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I attribute that to those who want factors like fatigue includes but having read our discussion have chosen to pass on the game...they vote with their wallets.

By the same token those that don't want that crap have voted with their wallets as well. I'd say in this case we far outnumber the ones that do. The game is pretty popular already. Good reviews are pouring in. Of course there are a "few" sourpusses but there always are in most games.

Good job Iain, now could you go back and redo Field of Glory with this engine? [&o]

ORIGINAL: pacwar

Given the complicated process of musket fire during this period it would seem to me that saving fire until the unit got within effective range would have been a priority, especially for first fire.

I'd like to point out that loading a matchlock musket is not very complicated - although having a match does mean it is a bit more so than a flintlock due to the proximity of fire and gunpowder [:-] Do not be fooled by the long series of illustrations in contemporary works as they are as much artwork as practical and incorporate renaissance artistic fashion for showing the human form in action. It is also not that tiring to handle a musket and due to the methods of shooting used during the period high rates of fire were not aimed for - that starts in the last quarter of the C17th really.

Good points, Nik.

I'd like to point out that loading a matchlock musket is not very complicated - although having a match does mean it is a bit more so than a flintlock due to the proximity of fire and gunpowder Do not be fooled by the long series of illustrations in contemporary works as they are as much artwork as practical and incorporate renaissance artistic fashion for showing the human form in action. It is also not that tiring to handle a musket and due to the methods of shooting used during the period high rates of fire were not aimed for - that starts in the last quarter of the C17th really.

Once again, where to begin...fatigue is a function of more than just loading and firing, although a 17th century matchlock weighed more than a Brown Bess and was far more cumbersome to load, despite whatever deviations an individual soldier might adopt to speed up the process...like soldiers in the American Revolution loading the ball by pounding the stock on the ground rather than using a ramrod. High rates of fire were only one factor...fatigue is the sum total of marching, loading, firing and perhaps most importantly, fear and stress. Then there is the fouling of the muskets themselves which would impact their effectiveness.

By the same token those that don't want that crap have voted with their wallets as well. I'd say in this case we far outnumber the ones that do. The game is pretty popular already. Good reviews are pouring in. Of course there are a "few" sourpusses but there always are in most games.

Maybe, maybe not...reviews are one thing, sales another. "game pretty popular already"...really... based on what metric?