AA vs AAA

[[HOUNDS] CptTrips]

Minor nit-pick.

 

In the WWII Asset Pack Unit List these are listed as :

AAA 
M45 Quadmount 
QF 3.7-inch AA gun 
37 mm gun M1 

AA guns 
8.8 cm Flak Gun 41 
Bofors 40 mm gun - Free
8.8 cm Flak Gun 18 - Free 
8.8 cm Flak Gun 36 
8.8 cm Flak Gun 37
2 cm Flak 30/38 
 

Which seems correct to me.

In the ME they are all listed as "AAA".

If I understand correctly those have different meanings.

Quote

AAA is small caliber fast firing Large MG' and small cannons.
AA  Flak is Large Caliber that fires actual shells that explode into pieces of metal FLAK
 

 

[Kang]

In my understanding 'AAA' is short for 'anti aircraft artillery' and thus definitely includes large caliber guns. That doesn't detract from the fact that the lists should probably be revised and combined or resorted. 'Flak', as much as it has creeped into everyday English, derives from the German equivalent: Flugabwehrkanone, which translates to anti air gun. Note that both the 88mm and the 20mm are called 'Flak' in German.

[Nealius]

Doesn't really help that the real-world terminology is a bit of a mess, and varies by country. Currently "AA" seems to mean anything that's surface-based anti-air, including both ballistic projectiles and guided missiles. In the US services I heard rumblings of moving away from "AAA" to "ADA" (Air Defense Artillery?) but a cursory search only shows the US Army using that term.

There doesn't seem to be an agreed upon definition of the terms, and no mention of "AA" vs. "AAA" differentiating between projectile size; that was done by affixing "light" or "heavy" to the acronym of choice, e.g. light AAA or light flak for 20mm etc., heavy AAA or heavy flak for 88s. That's in general usage, though, while guns like the QF 3.7 are offically named "AA" for whatever reason.

Ignoring the acronyms and country/linguistic variations, all are classified as "anti-aicraft gun," so something to that effect might be a better category. Which really makes more sense as a broader category anyway since cannon, auto-cannon, small-bore, large-bore, rifle, etc. are all ultimately "guns" in the end.

Edited July 25, 2024 by Nealius

[[HOUNDS] CptTrips]

2 hours ago, Nealius said:

Doesn't really help that the real-world terminology is a bit of a mess, and varies by country. Currently "AA" seems to mean anything that's surface-based anti-air, including both ballistic projectiles and guided missiles. In the US services I heard rumblings of moving away from "AAA" to "ADA" (Air Defense Artillery?) but a cursory search only shows the US Army using that term.

There doesn't seem to be an agreed upon definition of the terms, and no mention of "AA" vs. "AAA" differentiating between projectile size; that was done by affixing "light" or "heavy" to the acronym of choice, e.g. light AAA or light flak for 20mm etc., heavy AAA or heavy flak for 88s. That's in general usage, though, while guns like the QF 3.7 are offically named "AA" for whatever reason.

Ignoring the acronyms and country/linguistic variations, all are classified as "anti-aicraft gun," so something to that effect might be a better category. Which really makes more sense as a broader category anyway since cannon, auto-cannon, small-bore, large-bore, rifle, etc. are all ultimately "guns" in the end.

 

OK.  Not worth arguing over.

 

In that case, my suggestion would be listing them all under (whatever) the same in the Asset Pack unit listing I quoted from.  Just to make consistent with what they see in the ME.

 

$0.02.

 

 

[[HOUNDS] CptTrips]

15 minutes ago, [HOUNDS] CptTrips said:

OK.  Not worth arguing over.

 

In that case, my suggestion would be listing them all under (whatever) the same in the Asset Pack unit listing I quoted from.  Just to make consistent with what they see in the ME.

 

$0.02.

 

 

 

 

Although it could be argued the separating imparts the info that there is a significant difference in range between the two groups and one group uses time or alt set fused exploding shells and the other group doesn't.

The difference in not meaningless, but whatever.  $0.02.

 

Edited July 25, 2024 by [HOUNDS] CptTrips

[Kang]

While you are at it, the shop page description for the WW2 asset pack has several similar issues, probably due to the fact that lists got revised as new things were added back in the day:

• The M8 Greyhound is listed as 'cars and wagons', while the SdKfz 234 Puma is listed as 'trucks'
• The Opel Blitz is marked as free, the Bedford is not
• The Type VII submarine is listed both in its own category and under 'ships', and is mislabeled anyway, as I think the U-Flak is available in the game
• The towed artillery pieces, both LeFH 18 and M2, are not listed at all

[[HOUNDS] CptTrips]

5 hours ago, Kang said:

While you are at it, the shop page description for the WW2 asset pack has several similar issues, probably due to the fact that lists got revised as new things were added back in the day:

• The M8 Greyhound is listed as 'cars and wagons', while the SdKfz 234 Puma is listed as 'trucks'
• The Opel Blitz is marked as free, the Bedford is not
• The Type VII submarine is listed both in its own category and under 'ships', and is mislabeled anyway, as I think the U-Flak is available in the game
• The towed artillery pieces, both LeFH 18 and M2, are not listed at all

If there are future new assets to be added for the Pacific, it would be a good time to review and normalize a lot of this.  

[Kang]

Personally I would assume the disrepair that very list has fallen into is more of a symptom of ED's lack of interest. Not even sure at this point that the pacific assets will be part of the asset pack. They might bundle them up with the F6F instead.

[Nealius]

11 hours ago, Kang said:

Personally I would assume the disrepair that very list has fallen into is more of a symptom of ED's lack of interest.

You can see similar problems with the nomenclature used in the controls list. ED seems to prioritize the official terminology per the manual or other resources related to that item or module, to the detriment of the end user which needs more standardization for ease of use.