Mgellis

Many classes in the HUD-4 do not have any description listed. The following is an attempt to provide some basic text that can simply be cut and paste into the database by Gunny whenever it is convenient for him to do so. Facts (dates, etc.) were gathered from Wikipedia, but I have tried to make sure I have not used the actual wording or phrasing that occurs in the Wikipedia articles. Obviously, if any of these are wrong, etc., please feel free to post corrections so that Gunny can use that information. Here are the first set of ship descriptions. They are very basic, but for now I figure they are better than nothing. If anyone has any ideas for fleshing any of them out, please feel free to post them. The idea here is to give Gunny something he can simply check one last time to make sure there are no stupid mistakes that I left in by accident and then paste right into the database. I am also including a few corrections to existing entries that appear to be in error. ---cut here--- D 154 HMAS Duchess Former British destroyer acquired by Australia in 1964 D 16 County British guided missile destroyer class commissioned in the 1960s D 16 County [Exocet Mod] In the 1970s, some vessels in the County class were refitted, replacing two of their naval guns with Exocet anti-ship missiles D 166 Taimur Gearing class destroyer acquired by the Pakistani Navy in 1977. D 188 von Stauffenberg Fictional platform. Hypothetical post-Cold War German destroyer. D 23 Bristol [Type 82] British destroyer commissioned in 1973. D 25 Segui An American Sumner-class destroyer acquired by Argentina in 1972. D 25 Segui (Exocet) An American Sumner-class destroyer acquired by Argentina in 1972. D 26 Hipolito Bouchard An American Sumner-class destroyer acquired by Argentina in 1972. D 27 Comodoro Py An American Gearing-class destroyer acquired by Argentina in 1973. D 32 Daring [Type 45] Newest generation of British air defense destroyers. D 345 Adatepe Turkey acquired a number of American Gearing-class destroyers in the 1970s and 1980s. D 358 Berk Turkey destroyer class based on the American Claud Jones class. <-- not sure about this--they are listed as Claud Jones DEs but the all four of those were sold to the Indonesians, so where did these come from? Domestic copies? D 560 Italian guided missile destroyers commissioned in the 1990s. D 570 Andrea Doria Italian incarnation of the multi-national Horizon-class frigate. D 579 Impavido Italian guided missile destroyers similar to the American Charles F Adams class. D 60 Emerald [Type 48] Fictional platform. Next generation British destroyer. D 621 Surcouf [Type T47] French destroyer class in service from the 1950s to the 1980s. D 622 Kersaint [Type T47] French destroyer class in service from the 1950s to the 1980s. D 63 ISN Kolkata [Project 15A] New class of stealthy Indian guided missile destroyers. D 650 Aquitaine French incarnation of the FREMM (“Frigate multi-mission”) frigate, optimized for anti-submarine warfare. D 659 Berry <-- please take out the ?? in the class name; it looks silly French incarnation of the FREMM (“Frigate multi-mission”) frigate, optimized for anti-aircraft warfare. DD 103 Ayanami Older Japanese destroyer class in service from the late 1950s to the late 1980s. DD 110 Takanami New class of Japanese multi-role destroyer. DD 115 Akizuki New class of Japanese multi-role destroyer. DD 731 Maddox American Sumner-class destroyer notable for her involvement in the Gulf of Tonkin incident. DD 931 Forrest Sherman American destroyer class in service between the 1950s and the 1980s. DD 971 Okpo South Korean class of destroyers commissioned in the late 1990s. DDE 261 Mackenzie (DELEX) Canadian destroyer that served from the 1960s to the early 1990s. DDG 1000 Zumwalt Highly advanced but ferociously expensive class of American multi-role destroyers. DDG 1000 Zumwalt (Flight II) Fictional platform. Hypothetical second batch of American Zumwalt-class destroyers. DDG 991 Sejong the Great A large destroyer class in service with the South Korean Navy; these ships are similar to the American Burke-class Aegis destroyers, but carry more missiles. DDGH 39 HMAS Hobart New class of Australian air warfare destroyers. DDH 181 Hyuga Although this class displaces up to 18,000 tons at full load and can carry over a dozen aircraft, the Japanese insist these vessels are not carriers. DDH 975 Chungmugong New class of South Korean multi-role destroyers. DDHG 1 Husband E. Kimmel Fictional platform. Named for the admiral in charge of the Pacific fleet at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, these massive “destroyers” are effectively next generation cruisers that can also support a small squadron of helicopters or V/STOL aircraft. DDHG 1 Husband E. Kimmel Fictional platform. Improved version of the Kimmel destroyer class.

Many classes in the HUD-4 do not have any description listed. The following is an attempt to provide some basic text that can simply be cut and paste into the database by Gunny whenever it is convenient for him to do so. Facts (dates, etc.) were gathered from Wikipedia, but I have tried to make sure I have not used the actual wording or phrasing that occurs in the Wikipedia articles. Obviously, if any of these are wrong, etc., please feel free to post corrections so that Gunny can use that information. Here are the first set of ship descriptions. They are very basic, but for now I figure they are better than nothing. If anyone has any ideas for fleshing any of them out, please feel free to post them. The idea here is to give Gunny something he can simply check one last time to make sure there are no stupid mistakes that I left in by accident and then paste right into the database. For a few classes, I was stumped. I could not find or figure out a good description. Please add your own suggestions! I am also including a few corrections to existing entries that appear to be in error. ---cut here--- 01 Pohjanmaa (Correction) Minelayer and flagship of the Finnish Navy. 03 Turunmaa Finnish class of corvette. 240 Kaszub One-ship class of Polish corvette, active since 1987. 241 Gawran Planned but canceled class of Polish corvettes. 30 Lekiu Malaysian frigate class; both ships commissioned in the 1990s. 365 KRI Diponegoro Modern Sigma-class corvettes operated by Indonesia 550 conte di Cavour Italian aircraft carrier and flagship of the Italian fleet. She normally carries 8 V/STOL aircraft and 12 helicopters. 60 Helsinki (Corrected) Finnish missile boats; two boats were sold to Croatia in 2008 61 Badr British Battle-class destroyer sold to Pakistan in the 1950s. 61 Badr (Sumner) Former American Sumner-class destroyer transferred to Iran in 1971. 613 Almoravid Moroccan version of the Sigma-class corvette. 68 Formidable Multi-role frigate operated by Singapore; the first ship in the class was commissioned in 2007. 70 Rauma (Corrected) Finnish missile boat class that entered service in the 1990s. 701 Mohammed VI FREMM multi-purpose frigate operated by the Moroccan navy. 711 Pulau Rengat Tripartite-class minehunter operated by Indonesia. 756 Pohang South Korean corvette class that entered service in the 1980s. 761 Gimch’on Modified version of the South Korean Pohang-class corvette. 80 Hamina (Corrected) Finnish class of missile boats that entered service in the late 1990s 81 Tapper (Corrected) Swedish class of patrol boats 811 Super Dvora Mk I Israeli-built patrol boat in service with several nations 820 Super Dvora Mk II Israeli-built patrol boat in service with several nations 850 Dabur Israeli-built patrol boat in service with several nations 911 Chakri Naruebet Thai aircraft carrier, similar in design to Spain’s Principe de Asturias. Normally carries 6 V/STOL aircraft and 6-12 helicopters. 917 Daegu Former American destroyer acquired by South Korea A 1411 Berlin New class of German replenishment ships A 171 Endurance British icebreaker that saw service during the Falklands War A 5326 Etna Italian auxiliary ship commissioned in the late 1990s. A 5327 Stromboli Italian auxiliary ship commissioned in the late 1990s. A 625 Brave <-- okay, I’m stumped; I can’t find this one and I do not know what it is A 769 Dupuy de Lôme French spy ship designed to gather signals intelligence A 836 Amsterdam Dutch replenishment ship commissioned in the 1990s. ADS 1 Cape Cod <-- Fictional platform, but what the hell is this thing? It can carry 12 V/STOL aircraft or 8 large helicopters, but it does not have any ammunition stores. Is it a carrier? A cargo vessel? What? AKE 1 Lewis and Clark New class of American dry cargo replenishment ships. AOE 425 Mashu <-- okay, I’m stumped; I can’t find this one and I don’t know what it is AOE 57 Cheonji South Korean auxiliary vessel. AS 39 Emory S. Land American class of submarine tenders. B1 Al Bushra French-built patrol boats in service with Oman. B 18 Punta Medanos Argentine fleet tanker. B 432 Merchant A generic class of merchant vessel. C 4 General Belgrano Former Brooklyn-class cruiser acquired by Argentina in 1951. Sunk during the Falklands War. C 553 Andrea Doria Italian helicopter cruiser in service from the 1960s to the early 1990s. C 612 Montcalm Fictional platform. Next generation French missile cruiser. CG 01 Warsaw Fictional platform. Joint European missile cruiser class featuring French air defense system and Russian cruise missiles. CG 74 Las Vegas Fictional platform. Next generation American missile cruiser. CGN 114 Long Beach Fictional platform. Next generation American nuclear missile cruiser. CIV Boston Whaler 20-foot American motor boat. CIV Generic Barge A generic class of barge. CIV La Ponant Three-masted luxury yacht notable for having been seized by pirates in 2008. CIV Luxury Yacht A generic large luxury yacht. CIV Skiff (ALL versions) A generic small boat, possibly manned by irritable crazies with machine guns. CMN 15-60 class Patrol boat in service with Yemen. CRIM Narco Sub (BOTH) <-- okay, I’m stumped; I don’t know what it is...is it a boat, a sub, or what? CSG 1 Oakland Fictional platform. Next generation American helicopter cruiser. CSGN 01 San Diego Fictional platform. Next generation American nuclear helicopter cruiser. CV 34 Oriskany Fictional platform. Modernized American Essex-class carrier. CVA 21 Crown Point Fictional platform. CVA 9 Essex (SCB-125) Upgraded version of the American World War II vintage Essex-class carrier. CVL 22 HMCS Bonaventure Canadian aircraft carrier active in the 1960s. CVL Cabot Fictional platform. Hypothetical light V/STOL carrier. CVLN 100 Liscomb Bay <-- okay, I’m stumped; I don’t know what it is…is this another fictional platform? A nuclear version of the Cabot? CVV Hornet Fictional platform. Proposed American medium aircraft carrier. CVV America <-- okay, I’m stumped; I don’t know what it is..is this another fictional platform? Another version of the Essex? What?

Many classes in the HUD-4 do not have any description listed. The following is an attempt to provide some basic text that can simply be cut and paste into the database by Gunny whenever it is convenient for him to do so. Facts (dates, etc.) were gathered from Wikipedia, but I have tried to make sure I have not used the actual wording or phrasing that occurs in the Wikipedia articles. Obviously, if any of these are wrong, etc., please feel free to post corrections so that Gunny can use that information. Here are the submarine descriptions. They are very basic, but for now I figure they are better than nothing. If anyone has any ideas for fleshing any of them out, please feel free to post them. The idea here is to give Gunny something he can simply check one last time to make sure there are no stupid mistakes that I left in by accident and then paste right into the database. ---cut here--- Sohn Won-il [Type 214] Nine-boat class of South Korean submarines commissioned between 2010 and 2018 736 Ex US Guppy II [Hai Shih] Former American submarine sold to Taiwan in 1973 Goblin (All) Mystery contact (probably biological) that can be used to increase the complexity of a scenario Mk60 Captor An American underwater mine that operates by launching an MK46 torpedo when it detects a submarine Project 613 [Whiskey] Early Cold War Soviet submarine built during the 1950s. More than 200 were built; more than two dozen were exported to other countries, including Egypt, Indonesia, and Poland. Project 640 [Whiskey (CB)] Radar picket version of the Project 613 Project 659 [Echo I] The first five boats of the Soviet Echo class Project 661 [Papa] A one-boat class of Soviet submarine commissioned in 1969, fast for its time and featuring a titanium hull. Project 667A [Yankee I] Ballistic missile version of the Soviet Yankee class Project 677 [Lada] An improved version of the Soviet Kilo class Project 885 “Graney” The Russian Yasen-class is a new multi-purpose attack submarine designed to replace Soviet era boats. Project 955 A new class of Russian ballistic missile submarines. Project 955M A modified version of the Russian Project 955 Borei. Project 971U “Bars” A modified version of the Soviet Akula. S120 Papanikolis A Greek version of the Type 214 submarine. S167 Tridente A Portuguese class of submarine based on the Type 214 U-31 German version of the new Type 212A submarine S-21 Santa Fe Argentine submarine lost during the Falklands War S-30 Tupi Brazilian version of the Type 209/1400 submarine. S-353 Preveze Turkish version of the Type 209/1400 submarine. S-357 Gür An improved version of the Turkish S-353 Preveze class. S522 Salvatore Pelosi Italian diesel submarine class built in the late 1980s S524 Primo Longobardo Italian diesel submarine class built in the 1990s S526 Salvatore Todaro Italian version of the Type 212 submarine S 616 Triomphant French ballistic missile submarine class first appearing in the 1990s. S806 Zwaardvis Dutch submarine class built in the 1970s. S808 Dolfijn Dutch submarine class built in the 1950s and 1960s. S81 Scorpene A Franco-Spanish design, purchased by Chile, Brazil, India, and Malaysia. Sensor – SOSUS Unmanned American underwater listening post. SSGN 1 Surcouf Fictional platform. A prospective design for a next generation French attack submarine. SSN 594 Permit American attack submarine in service from the 1960s until the 1990s. SSN 640 Benjamin Franklin Fictional platform. Conversion of American ballistic missile submarine class to a cruise missile platform. SSN 774 Virginia New class of American attack submarines; first boat launched in 2003; a total of 30 boats are planned. Type 93 Shang Advanced Chinese nuclear attack submarine.

Mark, I doubt the HHQ would appreciate you using their work in another database. You will definitely want to get Ragnar's permission at a minimum. Long ago Darren and Ragnar couldn't find a way to work together so there may still be a reluctance to share their efforts. Or maybe not but you'll definitely want to ask first. Thanks, Tony. This is exactly why I ask. I suppose I could just supply very simple descriptions, which would be better than nothing. Something like, "A former British frigate, purchased by Chile in 1997," or something along those lines, just so people have some idea of what kind of ship, aircraft, etc. it is. I figure if I can do that, it's one more thing Gunny does not have to do, and I suspect updating the descriptions is just a matter of cutting and pasting the text into the database. Mark

Quick question... I don't mind going through the HUD-4 and identifying the ships for which the descriptive text is missing or incorrect (or, at least, doing as much as I can). I don't even mind finding appropriate text in various databases, online sources, etc., and posting the information so that Gunny can update the database more easily. However, I wanted to find out if there are any restrictions on using certain sources. Can the descriptions from the Harpoon Encyclopedia (http://www.harpoondatabases.com/Index.aspx) be used? That would seem a logical choice, but I did not know if there were any restrictions on using that information. Thanks in advance. Mark

Bugs to be fixed when there is time... Both the 240 Kaszub and the 241 Gawran have their top speeds listed as 1180 knots. I fear this may be incorrect. The AKE Lewis and Clark is listed as having a top speed of 528 knots. The GC 21 Guaicamacuto and the upgrade version are listed as having top speeds of 1,775 knots I did not find any others, but it is possible I missed them. Mark

File Name: Pledge 1: Burma Boil 2017 File Submitter: Mgellis File Submitted: 31 Jul 2012 File Category: Scenarios DB Used: HUD 4 v1.1 beta 10 Authors: Mark Gellis Battleset: No Information Thailand and Myanmar get into a brawl over Burmese fishing boats violating Thai fisheries. (Image of HTMS Phutta Loetla Naphalai (462); U.S. Navy photo 080615-N-8138M-569 by Mass Communications Specialist 1st Class Daniel Meaney (Released).) Click here to download this file

Thank you, gemerson! I look forward to seeing your ANW scenarios. If you want to brainstorm about ideas, please feel free to contact me, either here or via e-mail at mgellis2@yahoo.com. Right now, I'm finishing up a small scenario, one of my "fish war" ones. Basic concept: Myanmar has been violating Thai waters; Thailand has already seized a couple of fishing boats so this time Myanmar has sent warships to escort them. Thai forces have been ordered to seize (or, if they flee, sink) the fishing boats now in their waters. Both sides have warships and both sides have fairly impressive aircraft to provide surveillance and/or air cover, if need be. Victory conditions include not only sinking four trawlers (one assumes they run...H3 does not seem to be able model "warning shots" yet as far as I know) but also NOT losing any of your own ships or more than three aircraft. One thing I've realized is that one way to make a scenario challenging is to insist on limited losses. It is not hard for the U.S. or France or China or some other large country to invade or attack a small one, but invading or attacking a small one AND taking relatively low losses requires one to employ tactics, manage resources, etc. The nice thing about this "template" is how many scenarios you can build with it. You can use the same "plot" over and over, but come up with totally different scenarios. Change the Thai and Burmese ships and/or aircraft and you have a different scenario. Change the nations involved and you have a different scenario. There are hundreds of possible variations; I will never get through all of them. So who else is in? Mark

Back to the original question, is there a way (preferably an easy way, like just swapping out a .wav file, except I don't know which folder it is located in) to do this in Harpoon ANW?

[Listens to the crickets chirping...] Anyone? Hello? Seriously, people, one scenario a month is not a lot. They don't have to be big scenarios. You can have a lot of fun with half-a-dozen ships and a couple of dozen aircraft trying to kill each other while trying to not kill the occasional hapless civilian, who apparently does not have the common sense that God gave a cabbage because he's wandering around in a freakin' war zone... And to anyone who is new to Harpoon who has simply been reading the forums and not posting anything, please consider yourselves welcome, too. It really is not hard to write scenarios. There is a bit of a learning curve, but, trust me, if I can do it, anyone can.

The submarine song? http://bubbleheads.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/...g.html#comments Warning...the submarine song is NOT SAFE FOR WORK. (Oh, like that was a big surprise.) We should also have this one, which I believe is about the air force (This one is probably safe for work, but you never know...)

Ralf, Good to hear from you. And I definitely understand not having enough time to do everything one wants to do. (We're getting ready to move my daughter--first in her HS class, not that I'm bragging or anything--to upstate New York for her first year of college.) That's why I asked people to commit only to one scenario a month. They don't even have to be big scenarios. I'm hoping if I can get a few more people to commit to writing ANW/HUD-4 scenarios and we EACH put out just one a month, in a year we'll have dozens. That will make the HUD-4 a viable choice for people. (It is also a good way to track down any bugs that need to be squashed.) And I think that's what how it has to be done. It's not about who has a "better" database or who stole a database (although that is an important issue) or who is a jerk about the way they promote their database or whatever. The issue is that right now, there is not enough written for the HUD-4, aside from the scenarios that come with ANW (admittedly, a healthy supply, but there's only so many of them in there). People naturally go to a third party database that has so many entirely new scenarios available. To "compete" (for lack of a better word), I think HUD-4 has to do that, too. I am sorry that no one else has pledged "one a month for twelve months" yet. You know, it's not like I'm asking for their firstborn child here... I have also started posting new images with my scenarios, thanks to the miracle of public domain photographs produced in massive quantities by the United States Navy. And it is easy to credit the source because the Navy has a little blurb with each photograph with all the information. Mark

River class minesweeper http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_class_minesweeper Again, I know it will be a while before Gunny gets a chance to consider these, but I'm posting them now, as I find possibilities for additions, so he has them for later reference. This class was retired quickly, it appears, but some ships have found a new life as patrol corvettes for Brazil. ANW HUD 4 v1.1 b10

For me it works quite well as long as you don't try to use EC2003 or newer battlesets. So overall that means not well at all. Have you considered virtualization lately? http://harpgamer.com/harpforum/index.php?a...mp;showfile=718 Or picking up a dinosaur of a computer on the cheap for the SE. On an initial test, I got it to work with the regular 2003 battlesets and even the Westpac one, but not the extra ones like Africa. I'll play around with it a bit more, and post the results, but I'm optimistic that I can get it to work at least part-way. (I'm using Ubuntu 12.04 and Wine 1.4). Even if I can only use the old standard four maps, being able to use the newest HCDB will be a real victory for me as I have been struggling with the 16-bit SE issue for a long time.

Fellow Harpooners, In the last couple of years, I have focused on Harpoon 3 ANW, using the HUD-3 and then the HUD-4 database. One problem is that there are not many new scenarios for the HUD-4. I've written a few, but I really want to see the HUD-4 get more support. As I've said a couple of times, it is not going to work if I am the only one writing scenarios for it. I've put out a call to HUD 3/ANW players to get involved in writing more scenarios, and I thought I should let HC players know about it, too, because many of us do play both versions, even if we like one or the other a little better. If there is anyone out there who has thought about writing H3 ANW scenarios with the HUD-4, now is a good time to get started. Mark

Just curious... How well does the Scenario Editor for HCE run using Wine? I ask because I have a 64-bit window version of Windows 7, which I like quite a bit, but it does not run 16-bit programs like the SE. If the SE will run under Wine, I can do a disk boot of Ubuntu, run Wine, and then run the SE. I have 8 gigabytes of RAM, so my machine should be able to handle this. It will be rather sluggish, I imagine, but since it is the EDITOR, that probably will not matter very much. I can run the actual scenario in HCE under Windows 7. Anyway, if anyone has experience with the SE under Wine, please let me know what you think. Thanks! (Crossing my fingers that a solution to one of my few Harpoon problems may be looming on the horizon...looking forward to finally trying out the newest version of the HCDB...) Mark

Ah yes, good old MIDI files! Sure, if someone comes up with audio files (not midi files please, wav or mp3 or...) of the national anthems I'd be happy to add that trinket to HC. Actually, I meant for Harpoon ANW. Although I'm sure people might like it for HC, too. It would be cool if there was some way to choose the music AFTER you choose the scenario, when you know whose navy you are playing, especially if we had a library of national anthems. It would be like the Olympics...

I don't want to be someone who talks big and then does nothing. This is my attempt to do something to make the HUD-4 as good and as popular as it can be... If at least three other people will do it, too, I pledge to create at least one new Harpoon ANW scenario every month for the next twelve months, using the HUD-4 database. I also pledge to post at least one AAR on a scenario created by some other author every month. If we can get just four people to regularly write new scenarios with the HUD-4, in a year we will have about fifty. If we can get eight people to do it, in a year, we will have about one hundred of them. And with that many AARs being posted, and maybe more, we will have a lot more people reading these forums, I think. As time allows, I will do what I can to help other scenario writers with brainstorming, fact finding, playtesting, etc. Who is with me? Who else will take this pledge?

I'm going to re-post (and revise) some comments I made on another thread, as I think they are relevant here... First, I'm really not trying to slam on the Players Database. For good or ill, it is out there. I can't do anything about it. In fact, the last thing I wanted was to get sucked into this issue, get people upset and talking about it again, etc. I'm really sorry about that. My real point is that I just personally prefer the HUD-4 and I would like to see more people use it more often. I don't even care which database is "better"--I like the HUD-4, I like the way it "feels," I don't feel guilty about using it, and I want it to be as good as it can be. As far as just making the database better--more accurate, fewer bugs, etc.--Gunny has taken on that job. It is a big job and I appreciate what he does. I sometimes wish he would let more people help him, but he is the database editor and I defer to his decision. Mind you, we might want to ask Gunny, every so often, "So, this doing everything for the database...how is that working out for you?" And then, after he glares at us for a while, add, "Are you sure you don't want a little help?" My question remains what can be done to get more people interested in the HUD-4, get them use it, play with it, to write scenarios with it, etc.? I suspect that part of it is just writing more scenarios and posting AARs about them. The more that HUD-4 offers, not only for designers but players, too, the more people will use it. For my part, I enjoy writing scenarios with HUD-4 so I will keep doing that. I will post them here and anywhere else I think they will get good exposure. I hope that other members of these forums will help out by writing more of their own HUD-4 scenarios. I think that is going to be a big part making HUD-4 better, better known, more commonly used, etc. It isn't going to work if I'm the only one writing scenarios for the HUD-4. We need more people to get involved at this end of it. If people are struggling for "plots," I'd be happy to throw out some ideas for other people to develop.

Honestly nothing elaborate. I would just like to be able to swap out the music with some other sound file (e.g., the old Star Spangled Banner one HC has when you win, or something like that, something in the public domain, etc.) if it is a separate file. The opening music is a .wav file (I think) and it is separate so I have actually swapped that out with the original H3 music (the one that starts with the submarine pings) because I like it better.

As I said, I'm trying to focus on what I consider the issue at hand. The Players Database is, for better or worse, out there. Many people are very happy with it. That's not the issue. Some people may think it's the issue, but it isn't. I just personally prefer the HUD-4 and I would like to see more people use it more often. As far as just making the database better--more accurate, fewer bugs, etc.--Gunny has taken on that job. Tony has made some suggestions about how the process might be improved and we have to see what Gunny says to that. My question remains what can be done to get more people interested in the HUD-4, get them to write scenarios with it, etc.? I suspect that part of it is just writing more scenarios and posting AARs about them. The more that HUD-4 offers, not only for designers but players, too, the more people will use it. For my part, I enjoy writing scenarios with HUD-4 so I will keep doing that. I will post them here and anywhere else I think they will get good exposure. I hope that other members of these forums will help out by writing more of their own HUD-4 scenarios. I think that is going to be a big part making HUD-4 better, better known, more commonly used, etc. It isn't going to work if I'm the only one writing scenarios for the HUD-4. We need more people to get involved at this end of it. If people are struggling for "plots," I'd be happy to throw out some ideas for other people to develop.

I am hoping to see Gunny's comments on this. Tony's suggestions sound like they would make it much easier to update the database quickly, catch errors and bugs, add more platforms, etc. And it would probably reduce Gunny's workload in this area tremendously. I think one thing affecting HUD-4 right now is that so much depends on one person who, as far as I know, does this all as a labor of love and does not get paid for it. That's a huge burden. Tony's ideas might require some changes, but these may be changes that have to happen to allow the HUD-4 to reach its full potential. Comments? Thoughts? Observations?

You know, that's not really a very helpful statement. Besides, the database does work. It works fine. There is a difference between an occasional bug or an occasional error and a database that crashes the game every time you try to use it. I've used the HUD-4 since it has come out and I really do not have many problems with it. Gunny is aware that there are some bugs, etc. and he is working to fix as many as he can as quickly as he can. So that's a non-issue. Not only is it a non-issue, it has very little to do with my original posting. This is not about the Players Database. I do not care about the Players Database. I care about bringing the HUD-4 to more people.

My biggest objection to what Herman did was that he turned my scenarios into a platform for attacking the HUD-4. I was annoyed that he gave up and quit so easily--perhaps this is not obvious to someone playing the scenario, but it really does not matter if you cannot hit the T-34s with Sparrows; there are plenty of other ways to kill them. But I was even more annoyed by how he did it.