Renaming flowers in a bouquet.

[plloyd1010]

APL has been using counters from older games to jump-start new games. Eastern Front Deluxe counters for Fire in the Steppe and Armata Romania, White Eagles for The Deluge, that sort of thing. Now it's happening again with Dragon's Teeth.

So here's the question: Should I update the names and taglines of air and leader extensions to those games now in print? I would not be changing extension ID's. I would not be renaming to acknowledge revisions, Elsenborn Ridge would not be renamed for Elsenborn revised.

I am thinking about this mostly for newer Vassal players who might be confused by older game references that they may never see. Something like, "Soviet aircraft from Eastern Front Deluxe", wouldn't make much sense. We older PG players might have some consternation of seeing, "Soviet aircraft from Fire in the Steppe", when playing a scenario from March on Leningrad.

As a third option, I could have the renamed/retagged versions parallel to the old ones. I don't like that so much because it would take a lot of reworking the game packages. But, it is an option.

Anyone have any thoughts on the matter?

[treadasaurusrex]

APL has been using counters from older games to jump-start new games. Eastern Front Deluxe counters for Fire in the Steppe and Armata Romania, White Eagles for The Deluge, that sort of thing. Now it's happening again with Dragon's Teeth.

So here's the question: Should I update the names and taglines of air and leader extensions to those games now in print? I would not be changing extension ID's. I would not be renaming to acknowledge revisions, Elsenborn Ridge would not be renamed for Elsenborn revised.

I am thinking about this mostly for newer Vassal players who might be confused by older game references that they may never see. Something like, "Soviet aircraft from Eastern Front Deluxe", wouldn't make much sense. We older PG players might have some consternation of seeing, "Soviet aircraft from Fire in the Steppe", when playing a scenario from March on Leningrad.

As a third option, I could have the renamed/retagged versions parallel to the old ones. I don't like that so much because it would take a lot of reworking the game packages. But, it is an option.

Anyone have any thoughts on the matter?

My vote is for the simplest: Option 2 - use the name of each game whether old or new.

[Grognard Gunny]

When I download the "sets" of files that go with each game... my machine lets me know that I have already downloaded the file(s) in question. (If there are any duplicate files in my computer already.) It gives me the option of overwriting the file with the new version (Name) or leaving the existing file in place. This is all well and good as it gives me a minimum of files to sort through when setting up a game. On the other hand, if I leave the file(s) alone, I miss out on the new game/file names, if I overwrite the file I lose the old game file names. This is no bother to a person who knows his WWII History but is quite perplexing to someone who does not know the timeline of WWII.

My vote is to keep the new games and the old games coming as they are and let the player soft them out as he/she goes along. Any other way would make for a heck of a lot of work for the one who writes the new material for the program AND create mayhem for those of us used to the old system.

GG

[plloyd1010]

Watching the poll, there is an overwhelming preference for changing the names from old game references to newer game titles. So far I have identified 18 extensions and 2 for later, which would need name changes. There would be updated tag lines and tab names too. Game package updates would be automagic. I won't be changing extension ID's or version numbers, thus even if one does not load the new-name version, it should still work with someone who did.

Air German EasternFrontDx --> Air German FireItSteppe
Air Soviet EasternFrontDx --> Air Soviet FireItSteppe
Ldr German EastFrontDx --> Ldr German FireItSteppe
Ldr Soviet EastFrontDx --> Ldr Soviet FireItSteppe

Air Italian DesertRats --> Air Italian AfricaOriItaliana
Ldr British AfrikaKorps --> Ldr British AfricaOriItaliana
Ldr Indian DesertRats --> Ldr Indian AfricaOriItaliana
Ldr Italian DesertRats --> Ldr Italian AfricaOriItaliana

Air Polish WhiteEagles --> Air Polish Deluge
Ldr Polish WhiteEagles --> Ldr Polish Deluge

Air Romanian EastFront Expnd mix --> Air Romanian ArmataRomania Expnd mix
Air Romanian EastFront Std mix --> Air Romanian ArmataRomania Std mix
Ldr Romanian EastFrontDx --> Ldr Romanian ArmataRomania

Air USAF Guadalcanal --> Air USAF AtlanticMarines
Air USN Guadalcanal --> Air USN AtlanticMarines
Ldr US Guadalcanal --> Ldr US AtlanticMarines
    There was not a game or expansion published reusing these counters. A Golden Journal was the next best choice.

Ldr Australian Afrikakorps --> Ldr Australian KokodaCamp
Ldr Japanese Guadalcanal --> Ldr Japanese KokodaCamp
    Both Kokoda Campaign and Kokoda Trail are out of print. The Japanese leaders are also used in Changsha Operation. As Kokoda Campaign is latest physical game, I chose it.

Ldr German BattleBulge --> Ldr German DragonTeeth
Ldr US BattleBulge --> Ldr US DragonTeeth
    I'll deal with these once I have a little more information, like where the aircraft are coming from and how expansive the Luftwaffe troops might be.

[Tambu]

If it were my decision, I would not use the expansion title - Atlantic Marines - in place of the older, but owned by more people: Guadalcanal.

[plloyd1010]

If it were my decision, I would not use the expansion title - Atlantic Marines - in place of the older, but owned by more people: Guadalcanal.

I can do that, basically it would mean not doing. The curiosity would be having the Japanese taken out, but leaving the marines. I still have a few days to consider.