User talk:Bdevoe

Mercenary Infobox

Great job creating the merc infobox, but how do you intend for it to be used beyond the information that is in the Mercenaries' Handbook? Infoboxes are great for 'Mechs and books because the info doesn't change, but a merc unit changes COs, and the actual makeup of the unit can fluctuate wildly depending on battlefield fortunes and financial solvency. For example, I could easily change the ELH's CO to Ariana Winston, but she dies, too. Can you think of a way to make it work in that context? Scaletail 10:27, 6 August 2007 (CDT)

Thanks! I appreciate the compliment. :) The plan I envisioned was that it would use whatever the source books had for the periods they covered. For instance, ELH has Nathan Armstrong in 3025, a different CO in 3050, potentially another CO in 3065... That was the only way I could think of making the whole thing work - a different section for the different time periods. Only the time periods where the unit exists would be used, though (getting that to work took forever) - it would selectively remove the time frames that weren't supplied. Some units, like 12th Star Guards, got destroyed as a unit in the Clan invasion (or so I've heard). Others aren't created until after the Clan invasion. For a unit like ELH, however, the InfoBox might actually span several different periods as I'm sure they survived the Clans. It may be better to remove the CO from the InfoBox and just leave the other stuff since it's not as battlefield-dependent as, say, regiment disposition, etc. I did break that out into a separate section in the text for Merc Units, so maybe that's where the CO goes as well.

As for the other information, I don't have source material for any of the RPG stuff past 3030, so it's hard to know what kinds of information are provided. Do units regularly add a Jumpship or lose a Jumpship? Is that information that would be time-frame specific or just unit-relevant and no need to have multiple time frames would exist? Those are questions I can't readily answer.

One quick note - the Merc Handbook only covers 3 units - ELH, Wilson's Hussars, and the Waco Rangers. The House Books from the period describe the other mercenary units employed and the other entries will be, I'm sure, much shorter. I did mention in the talk for the InfoBox that I needed some help in determining what other time periods existed. Adding a new one to the template is easy enough - I just need to know what to put in it. :) I hope I answered the question (it was a long answer), but I'm really looking for some feedback and input on it, so I tried to give a broad answer that covered my intent. :) Whether there's any use for it remains to be seen, I think. Thanks! Bdevoe 10:49, 6 August 2007 (CDT)

Okay, how about folding the "unit disposition" section into the infobox? It seems sort of disconcerting to either go from unit history to TO&E, then back again; or to go from all history, then 3025, 3055, 3059, and 3067 deployments all at the same time. Since the infobox is meant to be a snapshot, much like the merc books themselves are, how about sizes for the various units and whether or not they have aerospace support? Minor quibble: altering "Jumpship" and "Dropship" to "JumpShip" and "DropShip"? --Scaletail 21:42, 15 September 2007 (CDT)

Couple of things. I thought about the unit disposition in the infobox, but it seemed cumbersome, unwieldy, and that the text may not fit remotely well at all. I'll play with it and see what I do. As for Aerospace support - sure, I'll add that. And as for the capitalization changes, I absolutely agree (I should have done it sooner) - I'll make those adjustments right now. I'll also look at adding unit size in the infobox. I think the unit disposition might be the most difficult section there, but I think I can wrangle it. Bdevoe 01:52, 16 September 2007 (CDT)