Could Be The Largest Computer Wargame of All Time!

Ed Cogburn · Post by **Ed Cogburn** » Thu Feb 15, 2001 11:56 am

Come on guys, I can't even remember how many ounces are in a quart and you want me to switch to metric?!??

Paul Goodman · Post by **Paul Goodman** » Thu Feb 15, 2001 8:13 pm

Wow! I wasn't thinking of converting the whole thing to metric. But, if we went to a metric grid, that might be implied. Forget I mentioned it!

Ed, it precisely because you can't remember the weird units in the English Engineering System that defines the huge advantage of the SI (metric, sort of) system. However, I would hate to loose my favorite velocity unit, furlongs per fortnight.

Paul

chanman · Post by **chanman** » Fri Feb 16, 2001 11:06 am

"Furlongs per fortnight"? I am an engineer and that unit is new to me. In all seriousness, the conversion to 100km hexes is a good one. Easy to figure aircraft ranges, ship ranges, subs, etc. At least we don't have to struggle with BTU's conversion to horsepower and then from that to a ship's speed in knots (Wanna get _really_ complex in figuring out what the range of a destroyer is? I don't). Tons are essentially equivalent (we'll skip the differentiation between long tons and short tons). May want to leave gun sizes alone, even though they do convert, outside of the German navy, it seems that inches are the standard unit. I am ignoring the British practice of rating a gun by the weight of the shell it throws, and for large artillery, I think they stuck to inches also. Note that I am not fanatical about SI units, but for some elements of the game they could simplify the algorithms used.

Furlongs per fortnight.... gotta run that one by my old Thermo prof.

Ed Cogburn · Post by **Ed Cogburn** » Fri Feb 16, 2001 1:21 pm

Originally posted by Paul Goodman:
Ed, it precisely because you can't remember the weird units in the English Engineering System that defines the huge advantage of the SI (metric, sort of) system. However, I would hate to loose my favorite velocity unit, furlongs per fortnight.

Paul

Furlongs per fortnight? LOL!

RevRick · Post by **RevRick** » Sat Feb 17, 2001 6:33 am

Nah.. Furlongs and Fortnights are too easy. Hornblower could have used them and made perfect sense of them. We ought to go to cubits and stadia per lunar cycles. Let me see, the main gun on an Iowa class would not quite be a cubit, but the main gun on the Yamato's might just measure up to a cubit, if we can find a good rabbi to give us the quick definition of the cubit. We could use spans for the smaller weapons, and measure the fuel in baths, hins (and/or hogsheads). And of course, powder should always be measured in ophas and cost in denarii, or pounds, or even lepta.

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God Bless;
Rev. Rick, the tincanman

bbbf · Post by **bbbf** » Sat Feb 17, 2001 5:41 pm

Yes!! Bring on the metric so us poor younger Aussies actually understand what's going on!

Mind you, we have been metric here since 66, but we still say we're 6 foot tall.

But, in my limited experience of imperial measurement, I am sooo glad we did go metric. It actually makes sense!

Paul Goodman · Post by **Paul Goodman** » Sun Feb 18, 2001 10:12 pm

Right, bbbf, but how many stone did you say you weigh?

I am an engineer and I've worked both in the US and in Europe. There are some real odities, particularly where any thoughts of the U.S. actually joining the world are concerned. I found, for example, that piping sizes, even in Europe are more often expressed in inches. The standard fluorescent lamp manufactured in Europe is 48" long (Phillips chose not to rationalize to a metric unit). Then there is the differences between SI and metric. With SI units, the centimeter isn't used. I never heard anyone even mention a Newton. Rather they interchange kilogram mass and kilogram force just as we do pounds. The Pascal is the SI unit of pressure, but I never saw a pressure gauge that read anything other than kg/cm2.

Me, I'll take the confusion and fun of the English units. I'll just get my lazy 12 stone (or whatever, what does a stone equal) arse a few thousand furlongs south and have my fortnight holiday in Tennerife.

Paul

JECrossNav · Post by **JECrossNav** » Sat Feb 24, 2001 6:40 am

Originally posted by David Heath:
At 50 miles ahex going from the West Coast of the US to the West Coast of India, then from Far East Soviet Union to the off the coast of New Zealand. ... If you want to play a big game this is going to be it. I know of no other wargame that is this size! We should have an early strategic screenshot over the weekend. Bob Wallace has really out done himself.

David

Man oh man. I am really excited about this one. Did I see somewhere this one is targeted for a Nov 01 release? If so I will have to hunker down and wait. sigh.

Fair Winds and Following Seas

John E Cross