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Getting Wound Up In Technicalities - 5/11/00

(by Sixxo)

Behold! Duane "Krod" Godwin - veteran of the WarBirds community, he brings his expertise to the World War Two Online world with Tech Pubs, a very ambitious project but one that's already landed him in the Official Affiliate spot - and with good reason. This site looks like it can be a truly excellent addition to the expanding World War Two Online community. To coincide with the official launch of Tech Pubs, I sat down with Krod to talk down and dirty about his pet project.

Sixxo: First of all, thanks for taking the time out to do this interview - it's very much appreciated. Now, Krod, you clearly come from a WarBirds background, but for those of us that are unfamiliar with the WarBirds scene and community, can you tell us what role your site and you, yourself, played in the community?

Krod: Well, Krod's WarBirds Pages were a focal part of the community - I took over Rolo's old Hatchlings pages, and built them up with info for newbies. I also did the official WarBirds training pages under Hatch (I still maintain them). Krod's WarBirds Pages are quite out of date now. :( I was the editor of the WarBirds Book with DocDoom, Prophet (now with JackedIN), and Burbank. Two years in the making, and I think it's brilliant. ;) I've recently started to read it myself, and I'm enjoying it.

Sixxo: Can you explain to us what Technical Publications (Tech Pubs) is about?

Krod: Tech Pubs is a resource for info on all the weapons and vehicles (aircraft, naval craft, armour, and trucks, etc.) for WWII Online. One of the most important things about "modern" combat is intelligence on your enemy's weapons. Tech Pubs will give you the capabilities of your and the enemy's weapons.

Sixxo: Who else is involved in this project?

Krod: I've managed to get some brilliant people involved in Tech Pubs. At the moment, we have:

Krod - Coordinator/Aircraft
Beaz - Armour and Ground Vehicles
Topcat - Naval Craft
LooseCannon - Firearms and Infantry Weapons
Packrat - Naval Craft
Burbank - Aircraft
Lapwin - Designer (see the website)
Bozola - Online database expert (for later features)
Fiffyb - Artist

The Tech Pubs team are something special - the depth of knowledge that these people have between them boggles my mind. There is also a fair amount of overlap as well - many of the guys are expert in other fields, and can provide info when we get stuck.

Sixxo: Now that looks like quite the list of professionals. What motivated you to construct a site of this slightly technical, slightly historical nature?

Krod: Simple - I love aircraft. I decided to do a website on the aircraft of WWII Online - sort of a carry over of my old WB Aircraft Wishlists. I had kept the lists for the WB Producer (Mo's was the last one that I did). Beaz spoke with me on the armour, and we decided to do the lot - ships, tanks, etc.

Sixxo: How do you see Tech Pubs benefiting the average, casual player?

Krod: The subject matter may be a little dry for a shoot-em-up specialist. However, if the WarBirders are anything to go by, many people will be interested in the history and capabilities of the weapons and vehicles. Knowing that your tank has a longer range gun than the one down the hill from you will be very useful. Or that your aircraft will out-turn, or outrun your opponent will help.

Sixxo: Do you see Tech Pubs evolving over time, and if so, how do you see it changing?

Krod: Tech Pubs is really bigger than just a support website for WWII Online. It will be a resource for all enthusiasts and students of the subjects that we will cover. It is a massive project - I have no idea when we will be finished, but I suspect that it's in the life's work category.

Sixxo: What is your favorite feature/article of Tech Pubs? Any vehicle/weapon that you feel attached to?

Krod: Well, we've been too busy to really get a feel for much. The thing that people will notice first is Fiffy's art. He will be illustrating each subject with an illustration that he has researched from an actual incident of the war.

Sixxo: What excites you most about working within the World War Two Online community?

Krod: I'm a veteran of large online gaming. Being part of an online community is great. I have so many friends from all over the world.

Sixxo: Finally, any closing thoughts, comments, or anything you'd like to add?

Krod: We battled for about a month to try and figure out a cool name for the site, that was generic enough to cover all of the subject matter. Eventually we chose generic, and dumped being cool. ;) Tech Pubs

Sixxo: Any rejected names you'd like to leak out? Everybody likes to hear rejected ideas. *grin*

Krod: The closest one was Heavy Metal - we even had the logo.

Would you like to comment in this interview? Head to this thread.

Thanks to Duane "Krod" Godwin for taking the time to answer these questions on such short notice. We at the HQ wish him the best of luck with Tech Pubs and he can be assured that I'll be checking it every day (I suggest you do, too!). Just to give you a sample of what Tech Pubs will be, here's a small planned feature set: Medals, uniforms, engines, aerial guns, service serial numbers for aircraft, batch numbers of builds, performance charts, and the like. Here's a teaser image created by Tech Pubs' very own Tim "Fiffyb" Brown: