Picking Who's In and Who's Out

Hello. Thought I would provide a bit of a status report on my work with Swords of Fire military history. Sorry for the dry topic, but you were warned: I find this absolutely fascinating.

My original efforts were not producing as I liked, so I gave them up. Those were in Excel, copying my database records there and then sorting them. Not a complete waste of time. Now I know how NOT to do things. But sometimes the best way to get ahead is to go back and start over. No point in walking a road from which "you can't get there from here".

My current approach is to remain in the database. First, I set everyone's military status for every year of their life to TRUE. Then I changed it to FALSE for years in which their age was less than 26 and more than 100. Then I changed it to FALSE for years in which they had a child, and for five years following. Then I changed it to FALSE for years in which a character was married to someone under the age of 26.

The family, although a warrior family, is still family orientated, I hope you note. No one under the age of 26 is allowed to officially join military forces. What they are is part of the Village Defense Forces, which is the last resistance should the family be overrun by war. Young marrieds are granted their time together, and if they begin a family right off they do not serve. For those family members who are not exceptional with their fighting skills, it is not unheard of that they never officially serve.

Young children get both their parents until age five. Then they get one (generally, the lesser warrior) until sixteen. After sixteen, they only lose their parents to the military if their parent/s is/are exceptional warrior/s. Or, if they belong to DEFENSE.

The family's Main Attack Force ranges in age from 31-70. Don't get shook about 70-year-old warriors. The family lives within the boundaries of healing waters, which delays age and promotes health. The average age at death for family members is well above 100. A 70-year-old family member would probably equate to a forty-year-old or fifty-year-old in ours. And a healthy one at that.

The Reserve Force consists of 71-100-year-olds. They have the experience, and most still have the strength of younger warriors.

The next two groups tend to work together. They are the very old and the very young. Warriors past 100 years and warriors 30-years of age and younger. These make up the village defenses. The thinking is that the old are weaker and have earned their respite, and the younger represent the family's future. These groups need to be protected at all costs.

Right now I am working on determining which parent remains with the child/ren during the youngest's years of 6-15. In most cases both parents will be home. But not always. There are 23,407 records to navigate - one at a time. I am currently on record 4,775. Tried a couple of ways to do this, but am reasonably happy with my current method.

I ran a query for mothers, with their husband's records alongside. I see their line, their age, and their sword skill. When one parent belongs to DEFENSE and the other doesn't, the choice is immediate: the parent belonging to DEFENSE returns to the military. When both belong to DEFENSE the stronger warrior returns. When neither do, I look at sword skill. More than half the family will top out at level four or weaker. Unless one belongs to DEFENSE, one does not continue in the military at those strengths. Only levels five and higher continue. So that's what I'm doing now. Once I've completed the 23,407 records I will have determined who is in the military when. At that point I will copy the records to Excel and begin grouping them according to their villages in order to set up companies and commands. From there I will use age and sword strength to determine promotions.

I suppose I could finish in July. Not really counting on it, but it could happen.

Don't you just love detailed work?