WWI Another Model Intro compilation with a twist

**Harrier** · 06-11-2011 13:54

Below I have a link for yet another report compiling model intros and plane stats. Yeah, I know, how many of those has everyone seen, right? Right now, it only contains data for models officially published for the game. It's a work in progress, but I thought I'd see what folks thought of a little twist I've added.

When looking at the raw airplane stats, I always have a hard time remembering specific deck capabilities so I've added speed (in cm.) and a little mnemonic device for various maneuvers involving the use of a domino font. The key is at the bottom of each page, so I'm curious to hear y'all's thoughts.

The report is designed to be read when printed rather that on-screen, so I realize the dominoes will likely be difficult to read at normal screen magnification. In any case:

Combatant_Models_by_Intro_I PDF
Line Maneuver Decks I.pdf

(EDIT 1: updated the file; no more dominoes, it's all about arrows now

)
(EDIT 2: added the deck summary)

**Naharaht** · 06-11-2011 17:18

Thank you for posting this list. It looks like it might be useful.

**petitbilbo** · 06-12-2011 08:05

I like it quite a lot!
Especially the layout: clear, comprehensive, nice.

Now, if you could keep up the good work with unofficial planes, that would be really great!

Cheers,

petitbilbo

**Harrier** · 06-12-2011 09:42

Thank you, David and Bilbo. At some point I do want to include unofficial stuff. As for layout, while I'm happy with the domino thing, it turns out they aren't legible enough (for me anyway) at the current point size, but I don't want to up the size either. I may need to figure something else out.

**skystalker** · 06-12-2011 11:57

Like the approach and the combination oif timelines with stats.....nice work!

**Attila57** · 06-12-2011 12:26

Well done Daniel Really interesting

Attilio

**petitbilbo** · 06-12-2011 13:02

Indeed, the domino system could be enhanced a bit.

But otherwise, nothing wrong with it!

petitbilbo from Brussels

**Harrier** · 06-12-2011 14:19

I'm all for enhancements, Bilbo. Suggest away.

**Okie** · 06-12-2011 17:55

Very welldone I hope you can keep it up!! Thanks

**steel_ratt** · 06-12-2011 20:19

Nice. The speed could possibly be simplified since there are only 4 different speeds used for all the decks. I usually just call them Very Slow, Slow, Fast, and Very Fast. (VS, S, F, VF)

I'd love to see unofficial plane stats in there. We are currently hammering some of them out in the Historical Discussion forum using the 'Unofficial Plane' tag.

**Flying Officer Kyte** · 06-13-2011 01:45

Yes your input on the Historical thread would be much appreciated by us all.

Rob.

**Harrier** · 06-13-2011 03:42

Originally Posted by steel_ratt

Nice. The speed could possibly be simplified since there are only 4 different speeds used for all the decks. I usually just call them Very Slow, Slow, Fast, and Very Fast. (VS, S, F, VF)

Yeah, that was my first thought as well, but two things changed my mind. First, the bombers. Second, uncertainty regarding future developments. That said, I'm not particularly opposed to a general code. If used we could use the following instead:

VS = those real laggards (decks XA (2.6) and XD (2.9))
S = what you refer to as VS (3.5) + XB/XC (3.2)
A (Average) = was S
F/VF = unchanged

OTOH, how much is actually gained by changing to a mnemonic system? (That's not rhetorical, BTW

)

Originally Posted by steel_ratt

I'd love to see unofficial plane stats in there. We are currently hammering some of them out in the Historical Discussion forum using the 'Unofficial Plane' tag.

Originally Posted by Flying Officer Kyte

Yes your input on the Historical thread would be much appreciated by us all.

Well, I don't really know jack about the real planes, so I don't know that I'd be terribly useful. I've started looking at the threads but haven't had time to really absorb and become more technically proficient. I've actually been surprised at how little reliable/agreed upon information there seems to be on operational intro/retirement dates.

**Flying Officer Kyte** · 06-13-2011 04:08

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Y'ere All DOOMED!

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Don't panic, Mr Mainwearing,Dont panic.

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Stupid boy Pike.

Kyte.

**Niek_vD** · 06-13-2011 05:51

Thanks for this list.

The domino's are very hard to decypher, it took me some time to understand that "only three" domino's means domino's 2, 3 and 4, only, and I have a hard time seeing, let alone counting, the dots. Perhaps a little bigger, and adding blanks for empty dominoes?

Did you copy the timelines from somewhere? The Airco D.H.2 was in action until june 1917 (Richthofen shot Hawker's D.H.2 in november 1916). And the "Fokker A.III" in the game is the Austrian designation for the Fokker E.III (see http://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/sho...A.III-vs-E.III), not the earlier unarmed plane with the German designation A.III. So you can delete the A.III entry and change the Fokker E.III entry to "Fokker E.III/A.III".

Nice to see the "speed" in c.m. Did you adjust for the different height in cards for the bombers?

**d@niele** · 06-13-2011 05:59

Hi, I like it a lot! the layout is very nice. just a question about the dominoes. Can you explain me? the meaning of the dominoes is not really clear for me.
thanks

**Bluedevil** · 06-13-2011 05:59

Just found out about this: very well done! A little bit of tweaking here and there and this is going to be a very useful and much used file!

**Harrier** · 06-13-2011 10:15

Originally Posted by Niek_vD

Did you copy the timelines from somewhere? The Airco D.H.2 was in action until june 1917 (Richthofen shot Hawker's D.H.2 in november 1916). And the "Fokker A.III" in the game is the Austrian designation for the Fokker E.III (see http://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/sho...A.III-vs-E.III), not the earlier unarmed plane with the German designation A.III. So you can delete the A.III entry and change the Fokker E.III entry to "Fokker E.III/A.III".

I compared all the timelines found here and on the yahoo group, and also some of my own web-work. Looks like the Airco mistake was just a typo. I was aware of the differing AIIIs. I specifically looked into that and something made me designate the one as the earlier model, though I can't for the life of me remember what it was now. But then, I could have just searched on the pilot and it would have solved that problem right off, eh?

Thanks for looking with a critical eye.

Originally Posted by Niek_vD

Nice to see the "speed" in c.m. Did you adjust for the different height in cards for the bombers?

I did make the adjustment for the large bombers. The smaller ones have the same card "height."

**Harrier** · 06-13-2011 10:26

Originally Posted by Bluedevil

Just found out about this: very well done! A little bit of tweaking here and there and this is going to be a very useful and much used file!

Great! A little tweaking! I could use a hint on how you think it should be tweaked. That's why I put it up.

**Harrier** · 06-13-2011 10:43

Originally Posted by Niek_vD

The domino's are very hard to decypher, it took me some time to understand that "only three" domino's means domino's 2, 3 and 4, only, and I have a hard time seeing, let alone counting, the dots. Perhaps a little bigger, and adding blanks for empty dominoes?

Yeah, the dominos aren't nearly as legible as they need to be, which I was afraid of. If that can't be helped without making the overall line size too big, will probably have to ditch 'em and figure something else out, but no other symbol system really encodes things as concisely, meaning it would require greater width in-line. If there's anyone who could do a special font with maneuver-style arrows and numbers, that would be grand

Heck, I'd pay for a specialized WoW typeface. (And trust me, I've looked at a lot of fonts; you'd be surprised how few there are with useful arrows and such.

As for the frequently "missing" dominoes 1 and 5. The primary reason they were place horizontally rather than vertically was as an immediate visual indicator. Without horizontal dominoes, you immediately know the plane lacks those maneuver types completely. Really, the system is base more on a center-to-outer idea rather than a left-to-right concept. I would have called 1 and 5 "outer," and 3 "center," but I couldn't think what I would then call 2 and 4. But, heck, now you've internalized it, so it's not a problem, right?

**Harrier** · 06-13-2011 10:59

Originally Posted by d@niele

Hi, I like it a lot! the layout is very nice. just a question about the dominoes. Can you explain me? the meaning of the dominoes is not really clear for me.

I was typing up an explanation, but I think I need to put off explaining because I just realized a basic mistake I made in the encoding setup that may well get rid of the legibility issue and be more intuitive. Hang tight

**Harrier** · 06-13-2011 15:30

So I decided on a completely different tack (use the link in the OP for the new version). I decided to go ahead and burn some column width, using a combination of arrow types and color coding which is easier to grasp; note the key at the bottom of each page. Also, the flags and number of craft for each nation with official representation for that type of craft.

**Harrier** · 06-24-2011 11:29

Two things today.

1) I reduced all speeds by 6mm. I had been including the arrow along with the line, which I shouldn't have.
2) Added a new file, Line Maneuver Decks I.pdf, which summarizes the deck info, presented both in alphabetical order, as well as by speed band.

**Bartman** · 06-24-2011 16:53

This is a great list Daniel! Very useful for campaigns.

**Linz** · 06-25-2011 03:14

Thanks Daniel great resource. Can you please post this in the Historical section so we have quick access to it when we are discussing unofficial aircraft.
Cheers
Linz

**Kaiser** · 06-25-2011 14:33

Very nice!

I find it very clearly arranged and readable

Now we need the same for WWII

**Bartman** · 06-25-2011 20:08

Hear Hear Daniel!

DoW needs the same love.

**Harrier** · 06-26-2011 08:43

I agree DoW needs the attention. It's just a matter of time which I'm presently a little short on, and since WWI is my focus, that's what gets the attention. The time thing will hopefully change before too long.

**Lugburz** · 06-26-2011 08:56

Smashing design! I love how clean and legible the chart is

You have done a fantastic job laying out vital information, and the sliding scale timeline on the left makes it easy to reference, at a glance, whether or not certain planes overlap per their operating history. Nice work.

Lugz

**petitbilbo** · 06-26-2011 11:26

Originally Posted by Lugburz

Smashing design! I love how clean and legible the chart is

You have done a fantastic job laying out vital information, and the sliding scale timeline on the left makes it easy to reference, at a glance, whether or not certain planes overlap per their operating history. Nice work.

Lugz

My thoughts exactly!

Very nice! Thanks for the excellent job!

petitbilbo