2020 Experiment to Influence GHQ 2021 list - Age of Sail

[CG2]

OK, I’m trying a different experiment this year as Consolidating the Wish List didn’t work last year. This appears to be principally because there just weren’t enough users on the forum – GHQ receives ‘thousands’ of suggestions and we could only muster a few dozen to contribute so our selections were lost in the noise. It may be worth repeating that experiment at a future date if more users actively participate in the forum on the new website.
So, this year’s experiment is to take GHQ’s comments and work out the single most viable new product for a particular range and see if we can get that added to GHQ’s new list. I’ve picked the Age of Sail range because it’s fairly small and manageable and I also have quite a lot of the data already available. This may, of course, be a horrible mistake as GHQ has not released anything in this line for a while and its position in the market is somewhat different to the one it holds in 1/285 scale.

So, how am I going to try to calculate the ‘magic’ item to tempt GHQ into producing it? Let’s start by allocating some factors based on the GHQ response.

1. Key equipment that is used by the major nations that we cover. (T-15 Armata, T-84) – GHQ currently only makes ships for 4 nations (Britain, France, Spain, USA). Each of these nations already has all of the key warship types but there few merchants/auxiliary ships.

2. Bulking up some of the lines/nations that we have recently started. (South Korea- M48A5K1/K2, North Korea- VTT 323 with 122mm ATG, India- M48A5T1). There are no recently started lines.

3. Equipment that was made in huge numbers, and was used in huge numbers (F6F Hellcat, Lewis and Clack class) – huge is relative but there were classes of 3rd rate 74s and frigates that ran to a few dozen and merchants could run to large numbers.

4. Equipment that is used by a lot of the nations that we cover (M48, Mi-26) – Ships were made for other nations but all of the countries that GHQ has in its range largely built their own warships (although they would use captured ships on occasion). Merchant vessels were much more widely used across nations.

5. Hitting a country that we haven't hit in awhile (TACAM R-2) – None of the range has been hit for a while so we can discount this point apart from saying that hitting this range at all would qualify.

6. Variants of popular equipment that we already have multiple variants, but customers continue to ask for more (T-34/76 1940, Shermans, Shermans, Shermans. While I can’t say what GHQ customers are asking for, I’m going to interpret this as meaning different classes of ships in the same rate ie different classes of British 74 gun 3rd rate.

7. Equipment that is large enough to be a centerpiece (Type 075 Landing Helicopter Dock) – most of the physically largest ships are already in the range but I’m going to broaden the definition a little to be ‘large in size or reputation’ as certain ships gained historic victories or were at key battles.

8. Equipment from nations that seem like things may be hot in the near future (K-30 Biho, M1985/M1991 MLRS) - Doesn’t really apply to historical ranges but the nearest I can get is anniversaries of key battles that may be imminent.

9. I’m also going to add a couple of factors of my own :

a. A bonus for US items – despite the relatively small part played by the fledgling US Navy on a worldwide scale at this point, it seems obvious that GHQ customers (the majority of whom I assume to be Americans) are more likely to ask for US Navy items.

b. A modifier based on whether a competitor offers a product at a similar quality/price point.

First, to test the system, I’m going to run the existing product range through the above criteria and see what that looks like. Once I’ve published that, I’ll see what comments people have on that and take suggestions for what new ships could be added and I’ll put them in the model and see how they score.

[CG2]

Ok - anyone know how to post an Excel table and keep the formatting?

[CG2]

Can't find a way to properly format this as this forum won't hold spacings but the column headings are listed in order below. Let me know any thoughts on weightings or suggestions for new items to be added.

Key Equipment
Number Built
Used by other Nations
Variant of Existing
Centerpiece
Upcoming Anniversary
US Bonus
Competition
Points
Code
Nation
Rate
Gun Rating
SClass
SName

4 4 3 0 0 0 5 0 16 391 USA Privateer Baltimore
4 5 5 0 0 0 5 -5 14 261 Generic Schooner 8
5 5 2 0 2 2 0 -5 11 413 Spain 3rd 74 Montanes El Montanes
5 5 5 0 0 1 0 -5 11 251 Britain Brig 18
3 5 3 0 1 0 0 -2 10 291 Britain East Indiaman 20 East Indiaman
3 4 2 0 2 0 0 -2 9 131 France 3rd 74 Annibal L'Achille
3 3 2 0 3 0 0 -2 9 292 Britain East Indiaman 44 East Indiaman
4 5 2 0 0 0 0 -2 9 141 France 5th Frigate 40 La Vengeance
3 1 0 0 5 2 0 -2 9 211 Britain 1st 100 Victory Victory
4 5 1 0 2 2 0 -5 9 231 Britain 3rd 74 Bellona Bellona
4 5 2 0 2 0 0 -5 8 132 France 3rd 74 Temeraire Le Superbe
5 3 1 0 0 0 0 -2 7 442 Spain 5th Frigate 38 La Diana
3 2 0 0 1 0 5 -5 6 342 USA 5th Frigate 38 Constellation
5 4 2 0 0 0 0 -5 6 151 France Corvette 20 La Fauvette
2 4 1 0 0 1 0 -2 6 252 Britain Sloop 20
4 5 2 0 0 0 0 -5 6 242 Britain 5th Frigate 38 Leda Shannon
3 1 1 0 4 2 0 -5 6 421 Spain 1st 112 San Jose San Jose
3 1 0 0 1 0 5 -5 5 341 USA 5th Frigate 44 United States Constitution
2 1 0 0 5 2 0 -5 5 411 Spain 1st 130 Santissima Trinidad Santissima Trinidad
3 2 1 0 3 0 0 -5 4 121 France 3rd 80 Tonnant mod. Le Bucentaire
2 4 3 0 0 0 0 -5 4 441 Spain Xebec 22
2 1 0 0 4 2 0 -5 4 221 Britain 2nd 98 Boyne Boyne
2 1 1 0 5 0 0 -5 4 111 France 1st 120 Ocean L'Ocean
2 1 1 0 4 0 0 -5 3 222 Britain 1st 112 San Jose San Josef
3 4 1 0 0 0 0 -5 3 243 Britain 5th Frigate 36 Ninfa Hamadryad
2 3 1 0 0 2 0 -5 3 241 Britain 5th Frigate 32 Amazon Cleopatra
2 2 0 0 1 1 0 -5 1 232 Britain 3rd 64 Ardent Agamemnon
1 1 0 0 0 0 0 -5 -3 244 Britain 4th 50 Salisbury Centurion

[StarCruiser]

You would probably have to create a table and then basically make an image out of it. Then you could post that image.

Otherwise - maybe just post it as a list using the "List" or "Ordered List" options?

I can't see any information on how to use either of those options in the FAQ so...?

[CG2]

I tried doing it as an image but you can't post images directly, only through a url to a webpage (and I don't have one).

[StarCruiser]

As far as new items - the British actually could use one or two additional 3rd 74's.

While the Bellona is good for several nearly identical classes (Arrogant class 12 units - Elizabeth class 8 units - arguably Ramillies class - 9 units), there are no proper "Large 74s" such as the Valiant or Mars class.

It also wouldn't hurt to add one or two more French frigates to the mix since they built quite a lot of those. A lugger/chase maree wouldn't hurt either.

Adding any Russian, Dutch, Danish or Swedish ships seems unlikely though that would add to the variety and some ended up in the service of other powers during the course of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars.

A few more merchant ships - Colliers, Brigs, smaller Indiamen and the like - could also be useful.

One thing I suspect needs to be done is - drop the "Full Sail" line. I have yet to order even one and I doubt the volume of sales justifies it. If it were me, I would take the line in the direction that Rod Langton did with his and break the hulls from the sails and masts. Upgrade the quality of the sails and masts and have different sets available as a separate item for most ship types. Might not be needed for Schooners and the like but still..?

[StarCruiser]

Imgur is free to use (until you get to a very large number of images):

https://imgur.com

[CG2]

Thanks - I'll try that and I'll chuck some of your suggestions into the model and see what they look like. With the current weightings I'm not sure how high they would score as most of those models are already made by 'Competitor A' but I may be underestimating brand loyalty - how do people feel about mixing brands?

[CG2]

https://imgur.com/a/vb8dkAE

Let's see if this works!

[StarCruiser]

Not sure why this isn't working - I'll see if I can post it using the img tags:



Nope... Try reposting it yourself but remember to click the image button (above the editing window) before pasting your link.

[CG2]

[CG2]

Nope - it works for me if I click on the link.

[redleg]

I haven't posted any pics on the new and improved forum, but on the old one you had to uncheck a box that said "Disable BBCode" on the posting for it to show the picture.

Also, from Imgur make sure you're copying the info from the box that says BBCode (message boards and forums)

At least that how it has worked for me.

[CG2]

[img]<blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" lang="en" data-id="a/vb8dkAE"><a href="//imgur.com/a/vb8dkAE">GHQ Age of Sail</a></blockquote><script async src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>[/img]

[StarCruiser]

Well - this is frustrating...

Let me try with one of my oldies:



I seems that it simply won't display in the forum. If you go with the simple direct link - in this case "https://imgur.com/SzLtFy6" - you can open it in another tab/window and it will go to the site and display. PHP has been around long enough that this shouldn't be a big issue.