Russian Designers ? ?

[DRG]

Originally Posted by Imp

The only other thing I can think of is an English version OOB for WW2, have to admit playing a minor power you dont use often takes a while to see whats what & considered knoking up OOBs with Formations in English.

That may be an example of adding more " historical accuracy " biting us on the bum. It was thought by some members of the team at that time that this would be a good way of adding "atmosphere" to the game. The theory was the players who would never play as Hungary for example wouldn't care and the ones that would play as Hungary would enjoy it.. We did switch over Hungary a few releases ago to all English formation names but left the unit names " Hungarian". AFAIK nobody, and I mean NOBODY ever noticed and if they did they didn't say a damn thing about it.

The issue if switching back to "All English" has been discussed internally a number of times but where to draw the line ? MOST people understand German military terms and abbreviations and I personally don't think changing JagdPz Zug/4 to TD Platoon/4 is going to win over new players ( most likely just piss off a lot of old ones, me included ) . We changed Hungary simply because it was so different and so difficult to understand at a glance ( and the restrictions we have to abide by in regard to name length means that we end up abbreviating things which makes them harder to understand for everyone ). Since we have had zero feedback on that change there has been no reason to further consider others. Admittedly it may not be clear just what "Sec Ametraldora" means when you are buying formations from the Republican Spanish OOB but clicking on it will show it's a combined MG and Infantry unit. That said I know changing ( at the least ) all formation names in the majority of the OOB's to English some people happy but IDK how many hard core " Spanish Civil War " gamers we'd annoy by changing it all to English who would feel we've " sold out" to make a few people who don't want to learn happy.

We've had these " On one hand ........and on the other hand " debates many times over the years and generally it stays the same because first off it's a mother of an amount of work to change over ( I know because I changed over the Hungarian OOB ) and second, for everyone we make "happy" do we make a long established player " unhappy ". However. If anyone can present us with evidence that the national naming issue is what's keeping players away from the game we certainly will consider change. ( I know Andy would be happy...... Like the TCP/IP issue it's not something I've heard from people as being the reason they don't play the game but then that's probably a discussion that would never occur on our forums since what we are dealing with is the committed player

Don

[hoplitis]

Originally Posted by DRG

...
However. If anyone can present us with evidence that the national naming issue is what's keeping players away from the game we certainly will consider change. ( I know Andy would be happy......
...
Don

If you're a "scenario" player and interested in the so called "minor" allies and less "commercial" () battles/opposing forces yes you have a major problem with the language/abbreviation issue. Maybe one (secondary) reason I play MBT regularly and WW2 not so often. No ... don't change anything now. It probably was a "wrong" decision but it was taken anyway. Eventually when my WW2 interest resurfaces I'll probably "dig" in the game (as always - damn addiction!!). The "hard core" players may enjoy it, the "dedicated" players may rant a bit (or not)and play the game but for the new,younger or more casual players it maybe a problem.

[Imp]

RE natioanal naming

I think most people have got used to the likes of Germans as play regular but because you tend to use the minor powers less my view is as follows.
For taking a side out for an occasional jaunt it does not add atmosphere its frustrating as you have to click on the formation to see what it is. Hence buying takes a long time often just going with what you have found.
In MBT despite the far larger number of nations you can take anyone out for a run with no hassle because the structure is consistent & clear if English is your main language.
Perhaps a poll on peoples views might be worth setting up, change all to English or change Minor Powers or leave as is.
Certainly from a money point of view I think an all English setting will make the game much more accesable to new players.
My first time if I remember spent ages looking at German & its not a hard one but of course your not sure so waste a good deal of time checking to start with. Many people esp if coming from SPWAW might think cant be bothered.
Of course if change to English leaving the likes of Germany as is will look odd & from a new players perspective its the one they will probably try first so will not improve accesability problem for them

[wulfir]

Originally Posted by Imp

RE natioanal naming

I quite like the national naming of OOBs, although I understand if people might think it's a bit annoying at first.

[Suhiir]

I'm 50/50 on National Naming.

I like the "flavor" it gives scenarios and the fact it make it less easy to identify opposition units.

I find it very annoying when I'm trying to play a nation and can't figure out what the heck MY units are.

One of those "damned if ya do, damned if ya don't" things I guess.