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Subject: Terminology for Producing Units 
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- Michael Tan(m3tan)United States
Los Angeles
California
That's me and my other pastime. I have toured internationally performing as John Lennon.
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I'm struggling a bit to come up with concise terminology for the production process in my game. There are two types of widgets players can produce: combat units and economic improvements. Both require 2 actions to produce. The first action is to spend a resource to build the widget. The second action places the widget on the board. Each player has a tableau with 2 spaces for the widgets: they can be produced (but aren't yet) and they are being produced (resource spent but widget not placed on the board yet). So this is the working terminology:
"Not in Play" - widgets that cannot be produced i.e. still in a polybag.
"Force Pool" - tableau space for widgets that may be produced, but aren't yet.
"Build Queue" - tableau space for widgets that are being produced.
"Deployed" - widgets that have been placed on the board.
"Build" - the action of spending a resource and moving a widget from the Force Pool to the Build Queue.
"Deploy" - the action of moving a widget from the Build Queue to the game board.
So 2 questions:
1. Should the latter space be called the Build Queue or Deployment Queue? I've been using Build Queue but starting to think Deployment Queue is the more appropriate term.
2. The names work fine if the only widgets being produced are combat units. They are misleading for the economic improvements though. Any suggestions for terminology that are inclusive of both widget types are welcomed.
Thanks in advance!
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1. So if I am understanding your request properly, You are asking if the space for "widgets that are being produced, but not placed yet" should be named Build Queue or Deployment Queue?
If so, I would suggest Deployment Queue considering you have already "built" the widget, just have not deployed it yet. This would most definitely avoid the confusion since it would not be waiting to be built again.
2. Since the widgets being produced are more than combat as you stated regarding the Economic improvements, I would suggest using terminology that encompasses both or all of its uses to avoid any confusion.
In order to avoid any confusion, I would suggest something more like "zone" only if that relates to all the items better. I do not have any prior knowledge of your game so I may not be helping here, but I just wanted to give you something to work with.
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- Last edited Thu Feb 7, 2019 5:15 am (Total Number of Edits: 1)
- Posted Thu Feb 7, 2019 5:14 am
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- Michael Tan(m3tan)United States
Los Angeles
California
That's me and my other pastime. I have toured internationally performing as John Lennon.
- It's a 4X game. The production system is being ported over from a WW2 game I designed and that's the origin of the prior terminology. It's too "wargamey" IMO tho because although combat is extremely likely, it's possible to win without ever fighting...
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- Michael Tan(m3tan)United States
Los Angeles
California
That's me and my other pastime. I have toured internationally performing as John Lennon.
- So you're essentially suggesting "build zone" and "deployment zone". That's a start...
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For non-native English speaker "build queue" and "deployed" sound good. They are clearly different sounding words (which might help with rules as you player dont accidentally read "build" vs "built")
Their meaning is clear too.
Other considerations. Instead of "deployed" you could have "completed".
"Force pool" sounds bit unfamiliar to me. I wonder if that could be "blueprints" or "raw materials" or "reserve" or "researched" something like that.
"Not in play" is fine. Other options could be "unknown" or "not available".
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- Last edited Thu Feb 7, 2019 5:34 am (Total Number of Edits: 1)
- Posted Thu Feb 7, 2019 5:33 am
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It sounds like movement between areas is a choice not a foregone conclusion? I would disassociate the actions from the locations and avoid "queue." Then get a simple word pairing that fits the theme.
Some simple pairings:
Input - Output
Pending - Ready
Supply - Storage
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The Simple:
Unavailable
Available
Purchased
Placed
The NASA:
Undefined
Formulated
Implemented
Deployed
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- Michael Tan(m3tan)United States
Los Angeles
California
That's me and my other pastime. I have toured internationally performing as John Lennon.
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How about:
Unavailable
Buildable
Deployable
Deployed
Build
Deploy
The only word I'm not thrilled about is Deployable. Not a very commonly used word and kinda sounds like deplorable...
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What does it mean thematically/story-wise for a particular piece to be available to build/in the "force pool"? What sort of game events or actions put pieces into that pool?
Is it about having the necessary technology to be able to build them? The raw materials? The political will?
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Buildable sounds like a mouth of marbles
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I would say:
Unspecified
Pending
Activated
Operational
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If it takes 2 actions to complete a unit, or an economic improvement, then what I think of is to describe those things as:
Before you do anything, all the stuff you can build are potential, i.e. a potential bank, a potential battle cruiser. This leaves freedom to describe things you would like to build but lack the tech pre-requisites for, which I assume matters. Just being in the polybag doesn't count.
You spend 1 action to initiate an improvement.
A potential <whatever> becomes an incomplete <whatever>.
An incomplete <whatever> becomes a completed <whatever>.
You deploy completed military units. You install or place a completed economic improvement.
You stop talking about queues altogether, because it is not as if you stick something on a conveyer belt and then, 2 turns later, they automatically become made. These are just 2 actions to spend.
Apologies if I have misunderstood.
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