One feature a day serie: #12 structures

[tc237]

While at first I thought all this nit-picking over flags and uniforms was going overboard, I've come to the conclusion that as long as it is constructive and adds to the game (without burdening the dev team) it's okay.
If they use our recommendations that's great, if not, that's okay too. At least we tried.
What I don't want is for everyone to say "wow, everything is great" and just overlook obvious mistakes. That's how we end up with games where the CSA starts with 10 ironclads in 1861!

[jelay14]

Is that a reference to Paradox's Victoria game?

[Hobbes]

As you say Remise too much knowledge can actually be a bad thing. I can recognise a tank so it bugs me if the wrong one is used in a film, a rifle - I have no clue. Some people were even upset about the mud flaps or something on a vehicle in Saving Private Ryan.

The flag was fine with me - now I'm not so sure!
Chris

[James D Burns]

Is that a reference to Paradox's Victoria game?

Nope it's Matrix's new Forge of Freedom game, it's a horribly non-historical game.

Jim

P.S. Some of the devs have stated however they intend to make an historical mod for it someday, but that remains to be seen.

[Le Ricain]

In my original post, I opted for using the national flag, but now I am not so sure. The choice is fairly simple: the national flag or the battle flag? However, the devil is in the detail.

If the national flag is chosen, which one? An obvious choice would be the 1st national flag, 'The Stars and Bars'. However, in this case, the question remains which one as there were at least 6 flags in use during the war (7, 11, 13, 14, 15 and even 16 stars). It is also worth remembering that the 1st national flag was abandoned because it was easily mistaken for the 'Stars and Stripes'.

The one flag that was in use throughout the war was the battle flag and it is the flag that is most identified today with the Southern cause. If the battle flag is chosen, does it really matter if it is square or rectangular? As has been noted above, both shaped flags were used by the Confederate armies. Basically, there was a lack of consistancy in the South over their flags.

We all agree that Sandra is extremely talented and she can probably do whatever is decided. However, she only has two hands. Is there any value in her devoting precious time in changing the flags at the expense of other game details?

[Remise]

We all agree that Sandra is extremely talented and she can probably do whatever is decided. However, she only has two hands. Is there any value in her devoting precious time in changing the flags at the expense of other game details?

Actually, if I had a choice -- and she has already indicated she is happy with what has been done, and nobody but myself seems to really care -- I would instead ask her to revise some of the decidedly non-military poses and the rococo uniforms. But maybe they can do this in the next game.

The naval flag is close enough, in my opinion, and the national flags will confuse anybody who doesn't really know Civil War history, which to my guess means most of the potential customers. Plus, they may have the same problem everybody had at First Bull Run, and mistake a Confederate town for a Federal one. At least their artillery battery won't get overrun!

B.C. Milligan