Phil the Dill Posted September 10, 2000 Share Posted September 10, 2000 I was just wondering why the game was in meters rater than feet - I though seeing the game was developed in America (and a greater majority of people playing are Americans)it was not in feet. ------------------ "Your Mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalem Posted September 10, 2000 Share Posted September 10, 2000 Hey, even some of us Yanks realize that meters are better than feet and inches, right? -dale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil the Dill Posted September 10, 2000 Author Share Posted September 10, 2000 The good ones... yes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slapdragon Posted September 10, 2000 Share Posted September 10, 2000 Meters have been used even by the US Military for a long time, but as a yank I like it in meters. If I was a designer working with 3D images and having to create hit registers and a myriad of tables in an Application written in C++ I would want my table to be as easy as I could make them, which leaves you with the metric system. As Manny said: "14 inches a foot, ounces and pounds, bog save us." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McAuliffe Posted September 10, 2000 Share Posted September 10, 2000 At first sight, thought that the thread was about someone wanting to match his skills with a female PBEM partner . Anyway, think meters is just more relevant if you're into doing research in order to create your own historical scenaros. Imagine the work converting elevations of a european map into feet or comparing technical specifications of german armor with the allied ones...I am glad it's in metric Having said that, I must express my dissapointment about poor scenario design in general. I see buffs discussing here about whether or not leaf-design camouflage was used on a tank or not, while nobody is commenting on the terrible errors in map design. I see scenarios where the Rhine looks like a creek, the hamlet of Noville as a big town, the Ardennes as flat as a pool table and the rolling hills of western Europe are depicted as "shrubveld". CM has given us a wonderfull 3D engine, in order to let the landscapes of hexagonial boards come alive and it seems all scenario designers stick to ASL-playboard data. Would appreciate if those designers had a look at topo-maps an aerial pictures, before they convert those scenario's. It would make it all together more realistic. Knowing its easier to pull the trigger, then to play the guitar...I did make myself some conversions..you'll find some of them on my homepage. ------------------ http://users.pandora.be/aneric/index8.htm#Projects Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howardb Posted September 10, 2000 Share Posted September 10, 2000 I never understood why you guys never converted to the metric system. Is it a national pride thing or just that it's hard revolutionizing a whole country's perception of distances? What's so great about the metric system is that so easy to calculate, that's probably why your military, Nasa, aviation (actually in aviation it's feet in height and meters in distance) etc uses it. Everything goes up in 10, 100, 1000 or something similar. The same about kg's and in celsius it's 100 degrees because water boils at that degree and water freezes at 0. I got a question for you though. Do you people understand meters, kg's and celsius at all or? I sure as heaven doesn't understand yours Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanco Posted September 10, 2000 Share Posted September 10, 2000 Hi howardb, As an American who has lived in France for a long time now, I feel qualified to answer your question. Kilometers are easy. Although in reality a km equals apx. 0.6 of a mile, in practice (trying to drive somewhere) each km equals about 1.5 miles. So if you wanna go somewhere 400 km away, plan on a trip that feels about 600 miles long. This applies in France no matter what the road, BTW, autoroute, country lane... it just takes longer, don't ask me why. A kilogram is WAAAY more expensive than a pound. Just go to the butcher and ask for a kg of steak. I learned this one way fast. The only one that still seems strange, even after all these years, is celcius. In short, it is impossible to tell how relatively hot or cold it is out from a celcius reading, the numbers are basically undecipherable and mean nothing from any known human standpoint. The only general rule I can give is that below 20° C, everyone wears heavy leather jackets, while above 20° all girls wear sleeveless tops and short skirts. Hope this helps!! DeanCo-- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wojorider Posted September 10, 2000 Share Posted September 10, 2000 As an American I have to say I know that a mile is 1760 yards about 1500 meters or about 1.5Km. and that 400 Km is about 267 miles. Meters make more sense, but since when did sense mean a lot to homo sapiens? ------------------ Wojorider Its a great day to kill a Hun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas_Peiper Posted September 10, 2000 Share Posted September 10, 2000 Just courios, wasn't the meter/feet problem of the US responsible for the crash landing of the last NASA-Mars-mission? Lets make life easier for all of us on the planet, Americans, please acept the metric system and please to all british, australian and all other ex-british commonwealth, put your car on the right side of the street like the rest of the world. Thank you. ------------------ Thomas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PzKpfw 1 Posted September 10, 2000 Share Posted September 10, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by McAuliffe: Having said that, I must express my dissapointment about poor scenario design in general. I see buffs discussing here about whether or not leaf-design camouflage was used on a tank or not, while nobody is commenting on the terrible errors in map design. I see scenarios where the Rhine looks like a creek, the hamlet of Noville as a big town, the Ardennes as flat as a pool table and the rolling hills of western Europe are depicted as "shrubveld". <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Have you tried bringing this up on the CM Scenerio forum?, as thats where the main discussion is with the scenerio designer types. Regards, John Waters ------------------ Make way evil, I'm armed to the teeth and packing a hamster! [This message has been edited by PzKpfw 1 (edited 09-10-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil the Dill Posted September 10, 2000 Author Share Posted September 10, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Thomas_Peiper: Lets make life easier for all of us on the planet, Americans, please acept the metric system and please to all british, australian and all other ex-british commonwealth, put your car on the right side of the street like the rest of the world. Thank you. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Don't forget that the Japs drive on the left (one of bigger producers of cars) BTW. which country was the car invented in? ------------------ "Your Mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas_Peiper Posted September 10, 2000 Share Posted September 10, 2000 I think it was invented in germany by Mr. Daimler in the late 19th century but I could be wrong. The Japanese drive on the left side? Well, I guess the problem is bigger than I thought. ------------------ Thomas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Michael emrys Posted September 10, 2000 Share Posted September 10, 2000 While it is indeed easier to make calculations in the metric system, my own opinion is that the foot-pound system relates better to the dimensions of the human world. For instance, the joints of my fingers tend to be around an inch long, but there is nothing in my body that is either a centimeter or a meter long. A mile is a comfortable distance for an after dinner stroll, but a kilometer is too short and two of them is much too long. A pound of food makes a good meal, but a kilo is a bit too much even for a couple. Many other examples could be cited, but I realize that this discussion is irrational from the beginning anyway. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Aitken Posted September 10, 2000 Share Posted September 10, 2000 Thomas_Peiper > put your car on the right side of the street like the rest of the world. I think Brussels is working towards that. Once they've made us rename our chocolate "vegelate", and once our criminals are immune from prosecution lest we violate their human rights, we'll all go mad and start driving on the right without even being told. David ------------------ They lost all of their equipment and had to swim in under machine gun fire. As they struggled in the water, Gardner heard somebody say, "Perhaps we're intruding, this seems to be a private beach." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark IV Posted September 10, 2000 Share Posted September 10, 2000 HEY: There are 260 million people here, or more, and the whole bloody infrastructure is built on the English system. The resistance to metric is what it always is: COST. You need to understand the huge scale on which such a conversion must occur, and most of industry would have to convert overnight (for compatability) and simultaneously. A good rule, whenever we are tempted to ascribe the motivations of large masses of people to national pride or conspiracies, is to follow the money. We were supposed to convert in the 70s but there was no real incentive to either business or the consumer to do so. However, it meant retooling the (then) largest economy in the world, during a period of high unemployment, inflation, energy crisis, etc. The costs appeared to outweigh the benefits at the time. Now the problem is larger- the economy grew, and there is even more to retool, thus the cost is even higher. It still has to happen. (They do teach it in the schools.) I was quite comfortable with metric except for the silly Celcius temperature system, which makes no sense (larger increments, so less accuracy, based on arbitrary molecular phenomena- how primitive). When are you people going to wake up and go Fahrenheit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest KwazyDog Posted September 10, 2000 Share Posted September 10, 2000 Mark IV, I was just about to bring that up, as I imagine that is the number 1 reason you guys havnt changed over. Can you imagine the cost involved with changing road signs alone ? Btw, does anyone here remember a near airling crash over there in the states where the ground crew filled up in gallons instead of litres? I think it was in the mid 80's. Imagine problems such as that times 100. [This message has been edited by KwazyDog (edited 09-10-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas_Peiper Posted September 10, 2000 Share Posted September 10, 2000 David, great reply. I have to agree. Brussel will have us all. Its like the borg, if you know them from Star Trek. "Resistance is futile, we will add you in to our collecitve to service us". Just kidding, personaly I think of me as an german european and I hope one day we will have a great big happy "United States of Europe". ------------------ Thomas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdl Posted September 10, 2000 Share Posted September 10, 2000 I would go for US changing gasoline from gallons to litres. Liters are cheaper and and my car can hold more of them than gallons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest *Captain Foobar* Posted September 10, 2000 Share Posted September 10, 2000 Yeah, Mark IV is absolutely right. The company Catapillar, and a division caled SOLAR, here in San Diego made a command decision that they were going to change overnight. The engineers and designers insisted on it, for all their calculations were metric based, and it was high time the machinists in the company start building the same way. Well, the machinist's union went on strike, and basically said they wouldn't return to work unless that decision was reversed. Apparently no-one was interested in replacing the personal tools of the machinists, which acquired over a lifetime, would cost a fortune to replace. So its the money indeed, as MarkIV said... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KLilly Posted September 10, 2000 Share Posted September 10, 2000 Last person that tried to get the US to go metric was Jimmy Carter, and look how far that got him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanir Posted September 10, 2000 Share Posted September 10, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by howardb: I got a question for you though. Do you people understand meters, kg's and celsius at all or? I sure as heaven doesn't understand yours <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Generaly, Americans are taught metric length (meters ect), but not capacity (liter) weight (gram) or temperature. At least that's the way it was when I was in school. ------------------ No, there will be no sequels. Charles and Steve have given up wargame design in disgust and have gone off to Jamaica to invest their new-found wealth in the drug trade. -Michael emrys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mr. Johnson-<THC>- Posted September 10, 2000 Share Posted September 10, 2000 Blame Reagan for canceling the change to Metric. Dumb bastard. Just went up north to Canada this summer, and those folks are sane. Wish these dumb americans would convert, I hate to call myself American sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mirage2k Posted September 10, 2000 Share Posted September 10, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>I got a question for you though. Do you people understand meters, kg's and celsius at all or? I sure as heaven doesn't understand yours <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Any American who has taken a high school or college level science course knows most of the metric system. -Andrew ------------------ VOTE BLAH FOR PRESIDENT! Throw me a frickin' smiley, people! Your one-stop-shop for gaming news is www.SiegersPost.com ! Hit it! BLAH IN 2000! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IntelWeenie Posted September 11, 2000 Share Posted September 11, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by KwazyDog: Can you imagine the cost involved with changing road signs alone ? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Probably not too bad if you consider most road signs are replaced every few years anyway. Still, the confusion and stubborness during any conversion attempt would be worse than Y2K. ------------------ Canada: Where men were men, unless they were horses. -Dudley Do-right Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Posted September 11, 2000 Share Posted September 11, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by McAuliffe: At first sight, thought that the thread was about someone wanting to match his skills with a female PBEM partner . Anyway, think meters is just more relevant if you're into doing research in order to create your own historical scenaros. Imagine the work converting elevations of a european map into feet or comparing technical specifications of german armor with the allied ones...I am glad it's in metric Having said that, I must express my dissapointment about poor scenario design in general. I see buffs discussing here about whether or not leaf-design camouflage was used on a tank or not, while nobody is commenting on the terrible errors in map design. I see scenarios where the Rhine looks like a creek, the hamlet of Noville as a big town, the Ardennes as flat as a pool table and the rolling hills of western Europe are depicted as "shrubveld". CM has given us a wonderfull 3D engine, in order to let the landscapes of hexagonial boards come alive and it seems all scenario designers stick to ASL-playboard data. Would appreciate if those designers had a look at topo-maps an aerial pictures, before they convert those scenario's. It would make it all together more realistic. Knowing its easier to pull the trigger, then to play the guitar...I did make myself some conversions..you'll find some of them on my homepage. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Is the Ardennes region mountainous? My impression from my reading about the battles there is that the whole Ardennes region is basically a platteau that is slightly raised above the surrounding regions and is cut through by some rather deep river valleys, such as the Our River. The area is somewhat tipped towards the west from the Eifel area. Small areas depicted in scenarios could, therefore, be rather flat. Am I mistaken? Some of you that live near there or have visited there, could you let me know if I'm correct? ------------------ Blessed be the Lord my strength who teaches my hands to war and my fingers to fight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts