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So are the 6lb and 12lb 'pounders' supposed to be smoothbores (Napoleons)? Why are they called 'pounders'? Seems redundant to me. Wouldn't '6 lb Smoothbores' be better?

PBBoeye wrote:So are the 6lb and 12lb 'pounders' supposed to be smoothbores (Napoleons)? Why are they called 'pounders'? Seems redundant to me. Wouldn't '6 lb Smoothbores' be better?

Yeah, something that I changed in my mod. 6-lb are "6-lb smoothbore" and 12-lb are "12-lb Napoleon"

Interesting. Thought they were synonymous, but I guess not. And I was thinking 'smoothbore' was primarily a rebel thing, while 'Napoleon' was more a Federal or English term.

Guess I was wrong. Thanks.

- technologically advanced weapon with a range of 4 miles, lighter than other cannon, superior carriage easily repaired, whose design allowed more cannon to be carried on a railway flat car. Calibre considered too small for effective use and with its sister 12pdr smoothbore howitzer model, only 66 were sold to the union army (p 181 in Brassey's Almanac The American Civil War by Philip Katcher)

It seems there is no need to call the 6pdr a smoothbore.

Part of the point is the original game syntax is retarded. It shows as 6 lb pounder. That's silly.

Just some quick history on the guns.

6-lb
http://civilwartalk.com/plugins/p2_news/printarticle.php?p2_articleid=76

12-lb "Napoleon"
http://civilwartalk.com/plugins/p2_news/printarticle.php?p2_articleid=77

12-lb Howitzer
http://civilwartalk.com/plugins/p2_news/printarticle.php?p2_articleid=81

6-lb Wiard
http://civilwartalk.com/plugins/p2_news/printarticle.php?p2_articleid=84

Both sides called the new 12-lb the 'Napoleon', after Napoleon III (gun designed in France).

I classify the 6-lb as 'smoothbore' as it represents the gaggle of different 6-lb smoothbore artillery used by the South (veterans of the Mexican-American war, and earlier), which were generally discarded by the North.

The Confederates tended to base artillery batteries off the mix that used to be commonplace in the Mexican-American War (so many 6-lb field guns, and 12-lb howitzers). The Union was better able at replacing its artillery (no 6-lb or 12-lb Howitzers served out East, and only a few out West), as the 12-lb Napoleon was a field-howitzer, capable of filling the roles of the 6-lb and old 12-lb, and do both jobs better.

The 6-lb should almost be exclusive to the South, representing their mixed batteries of 6-lb field guns and 12-lb howitzers.

Most Southern Artillery ended up being captured Northern Guns (Their produciton was dwarfed by Northern production, and individual quality was much poorer). This is why armaments between the two ended up being so similar.

Another issue, not discussed yet, is the fact that the majority of Confederate batteries were of 4 guns, while the majority of Union batteries were of 6 guns. Also, Union powder was more effective (longer ranges, more accuracy, greater amount, etc.). Currently, Union Artillery has slight strengths over Confederate Artillery, but I think it may need to be greater. Also, their artillery men were renowned. One Confederate General said, take Southern Infantry, and Northern Artillery, and that commander could conquer the world.

Yummy. The links are great, although oddly, each time I opened one it also pulled up the 'Print' window -- weirdness....

Great points, McNaughton, both the battery size and scarcity in Union batteries (of the 6pdr).

Makes me want to see unique models for both the Union and Rebel batteries, to mimic the difference in battery size and overall effectiveness of the guns/powder, as well as see 6pdrs scarce in Union batteries (or maybe non-existant since we probably can't control the way the AI manufactures/uses them).

Or is some of this already being represented?

PBBoeye wrote:Yummy. The links are great, although oddly, each time I opened one it also pulled up the 'Print' window -- weirdness....

Great points, McNaughton, both the battery size and scarcity in Union batteries (of the 6pdr).

Makes me want to see unique models for both the Union and Rebel batteries, to mimic the difference in battery size and overall effectiveness of the guns/powder, as well as see 6pdrs scarce in Union batteries (or maybe non-existant since we probably can't control the way the AI manufactures/uses them).

Or is some of this already being represented?

Well, there are separate actual models between the Confederates and Union, mainly they are identical in name, but stats are slightly different. This opens the possibility to mod these guns to be even more different. The problem is, modding the Confederate guns to the point where they are still useful for a player to build.

You can alter what can be built, in order to control the way the AI builds units. By reducing the number of possible 6-lb guns, by changing the supporting artillery of brigades from 6-lb to 12/10-lb guns, will reduce the number of 6-lb floating around. (one of the parts of the artillery aspect of the mod I am working on).

PBBoeye wrote:Part of the point is the original game syntax is retarded. It shows as 6 lb pounder. That's silly.

I cut AGEod a bit of slack in the naming. Pocus et. al generally do a great job despite French being their first language.

Of course, there are a half million people in Bowling Greene (sic) that might disagree

I cut them slack, too. That's why it is up to native speakers to sharpen the product with their language skills and other abilities. AGEod doesn't have the time to make it perfect; many hands lighten the load. Take McNaughton's coming graphics (and other stuff) mod and Hancock's 'Leader' mod as evidence. All that stuff pushes the game to even greater heights.

Gone, I think, are the days when a company releases a product and the public just sits back and accepts it for what it is and no more. Hey, I bought FoF and haven't been the least bit interested in messing with it, part of which has been the abysmmal community support. There's talk over there, but no action or improvement from any of the public. It's all on the developers. I think the forum there reveals that fact. I estimate six months from now there will be very little going on there, and it makes me partly uninterested in the game. Let me say now that I own several Matrix titles and in no way am I making this an AGEod vs. Matrix issue - it's just that in the particular matchup of two communities in reference to each title, there isn't even a contest as to involvement and outside (game owner) development.

Back on the French-English thing - I've given some consideration to rewriting the tutorial as there are some less than sharp phrasings there. I figure, anything to help a newbie.