Azrael's Log

[[dipstick]]

Let me get back to you on that one -searching for a nice flow diagram to break it down for you

 

THIS will do to start

 

Link No 2

 

Link no 3

Edited October 6, 2005 by dipstick

[Guest Azrael]

No! I've already have had exams these weeks, thank you very much, my brain doesn't need me pushing it any further. Take your education system and put it in...

[kafros]

I don't

 

Az's system seems a bit hard... But, if you really want to see something weird, just sneak-peek the Hellenic one... Personal tutoring at its glory <_>

[Guest Azrael]

My system is based off the French one

[Guest Azrael]

This is how the university system works:

I take the courses (Like Programming 1 or Discrete Mathematics 2).

During the semester, there are (usually) two midterms per asignature, I just had the first ones.

If, between the two midterms I get <25 points, I have failed the course and I need to retake it when the right semester is up.

If I get >25 and <45, I have the asignature approved and have gained the right to take the exam (if I pass the exam, I have the corresponding credits given to me).

If I get >=45 I have exonerated the asignature, I don't need to take an exam, I have it approved and the credits given to me.

 

Got a not that nice 15 points on my Discrete Mathematics 1 test today, that didn't go half as well as I hoped it would, but not that bad either, only 10 more to have it approved.

 

Getting ready now to leave tomorrow morning , see you all on Monday.

Edited October 7, 2005 by Azrael

[Guest Azrael]

I'm back Even though it is impossible to share the excitement and enjoyment of the event, I'll try to detail most of the three days I was there

 

Day 0 (D Day - 1)

Finished the last additions to my travel backpack, sorted the last issues here, and took off at 10 o'clock to catch the interdepartamental bus at the terminal on Tres Cruces, getting on regular buses with a huge back pack (sleeping sack included) is not easy, I tell you. I met my two friends at the terminal and we wait a few minutes until the bus arrives and we leave for the city (or town...) of Durazno, the festival hasn't started yet but I considered it a good chance to know a different place, so I had decided to leave one day before, we had failed to obtain train tickets due to a stupid delay thanks to my friends, but it was ok, the train was 5 hours to get to the place, while it was 2,5 hours by bus; I leave with the book The Vampire Lestat on my hands and ready for a rather boring but thankfully not long trip on bus.

We arrive at approx. 14:30, sun's blazing and the temperature high, we have to get to the camping site as soon as possible if we don't want to roast alive, stupid backpack is heavy so the walk is longer than it should be, though there are some good 5 km to the camping site from the terminal...

Dunno how much time afterwards we manage to crawl to the site (I loved the attitude of the people, the locals seemed happy we were there) and try to find a secluded place for our tent, preferrably one far from sight, we find a good spot and prep the tent. Ok, I'm thirsty, my friends go get a Pepsi and we eat something I brought along and drink. The site seems rather deserted so far, but it's early, people will be arriving on masse tomorrow.

While my friends take a nap (what are you? 80???) I go explore the place for 1-2 hours, I like the place, nice forest and we are near the services and administration.

At night we decide to go to the main square to get to know the nightlife. The place was already crawling with people who came for the festival, activity everyone, still a rather boring place for a city-boy like me, but it's not bad, we go to eat something. Our plans to drink and get to know the place drunken-style are foiled by a discussion between me and my friends. It's ok, once sorted we return to the site and I take my friends for a little scouting, blair witch-project style, nothing but a flashlight and my friends nerves tingling thanks to moi. We find a path away from the regular routes, it looks interesting, it's awfully dark and not a soul on sight, I say we go there! Rather reluctant my friends follow me, unfortunately they didn't find it funny when I turned and yelled "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!", as they turned tail and ran like heck. I convinced them to return, but when we are getting deeper, one of them (the girl) seemed spooked by something "Over there! someone!" I light with the flashlight but I don't see a thing, which isn't terribly surprising since we are all kinda spooked already, she turns and starts getting out, I try to control them trying to get them to stay but it's too late, fear has spread they are both running, I get out of there too in a hurry since I hate to be in dark, lonely places on my own (I like having people with me to act as decoys for any potential monsters as I make ... a... tactical withdrawal for better assessment of the situation

It's late already, so we return to the tent and get ready to sleep. From a few tents near us we hear someone shouting real loud "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!", some guys near us, the shout was that of a caveman, and then another "AHHHHHHHHHH!!" from another tent, from the sound of it, it was rather far from us, and then one near us also "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!", I couldn't help it: "AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" I yelled, as greeting my neighbours (99% of the camping pop was there for the festival, so you can guess what was the mood and alcoholic levels of the population, everyone was there to party!).

I play with my flashlight for a few minutes and manage to spook my friends again telling them I was seeing things, and the things that could be prowling in the darkness... we sleep after singing some songs by some of the bands that are playing in the following days

 

Day 1 (D-Day)

Crap! the night was far colder than I expected... sleeping on the countryside on a tent is not what I remembered... I wake up very very early (about 7 AM) coughing heavily and sneezing like heck, fortunately nothing some woolen clothing, a walk, and hot food can't cure, I wake up one of my friends and we go try to restore ourselves.

We play Truco (Trick) with the cards I brought along for a few hours, and after a undeniable victory, my friend decides to take yet another nap until later, I lay down and read my book as I didn't have anything else to do.

Wheee! it's 3 o'clock! the festival is starting in two hours! now the camping site is crawling with tents and people, completely crowded, same the town, now it's hard to walk without bumping into someone. We grab our backpacks, store them in a safe place and proceed to rock! I receive a SMS by a friend I just *have* to talk to.. unfortunately the cellphone doesn't seem to be working right, the network must be saturated, s**t, I felt really down after that, I missed her a lot, but I guess nothing some good rock can't fix..

Bands playing today:

Doberman

Motosierra

Buenos Muchachos

Abuela Coca

La Vela Puerca

Snake

Graffolitas

Hereford

Trostky Vengaran.

First time the Pilsen Rock festival was held was in 2003, 35.000 assisted, people were very much surprised of the success of the festival, since nothing like this was done before (a rock festival composed exclusively by national bands, with the occassional guest), the services in Durazno collapsed, but it was great nonetheless (I first came there this year). In 2004 70.000 people, they expect over 100.000 this year. I believe it, the walk (Which I think was about 6-7 km) was long but ok, now the place is really crowded, we meet with other friends and go to the Parque de la Hispanidad. The security is tight, people drunk everywhere, but the mood was great, everyone there was there to have fun, not to cause trouble. We get in (the festival is free ), in time to listen to Motosierra (Chainsaw), a heavy rock band which emulates USAnian rock. The band played it very nicely, in the sense that it really did sound like something from the US, unfortunately this is a real music festival, but it's fun to watch (they even emulated the usual tricks heavy rock bands do, like throwing themselves to the floor, putting the mic in their mouthes, pulling down their pants, cheap tricks for bands with no real ability).

I feel amazed by the amount of people in the place, the site is huge but yet it is filled, great! There are flags everywhere, I am not very surprised to see the flags of the Socialist Party and I feel happy because of it, there are

also some flags of Ernesto Guevara (Che Guevara), maybe a Cuban flag somewhere over there, and then the rock bands flags everywhere.

There are two huge stages and two huge screens, also speakers everywhere, you cannot run away from the music!

Buenos Muchachos (Good Guys) is up, I really wanted to listen to them, as I know the guitar player (he lives in front of my home and we've known each other since forever). The band is really Uruguayan rock and sounds great, the lyrics are also awesome, loved it.

Graffolitas is up now, I'm not interested by it so we go have a little rest, when Hereford is getting ready, we go to the very heart of the mass, that could have been a great mistake; the crowd was moving and jumping so much that we get separated, a stream of people literally drag me to right next to the stage (Awesome!!), a friend attempts to grab me to prevent me from being taken but fails, I manage to pull the girl towards him and yell "Get her out of here!" as the people were getting more excited and I was concerned she would be hit or fell (when people get THAT excited, it's not unusual to be accidentally hit by someone, happens all the time). I watch them getting farther as I get dragged, I say "what the heck" and I start jumping and singing to the band, they sound great and I had confirmed that I was trapped, there was absolutely no way of getting out of the crowd, so I join them in the fun while avoiding people's elbows and avoiding to hit them with mine. I am terribly surprised to see something I am positive doesn't happen everywhere, in the news it's not really unusual to see people dying at concerts this crowded; when people fall to the floor, the rest stomp them and kill them, or they are hit and them stomped, it's not unusual, but here that doesn't happen. I saw a guy fell, I thought he was in trouble, but everyone around him stopped jumping and helped him up, there was NO ONE jumping around him, a circle of protection from the crowd, the guy gets up helped and jumps again, god I love my people, I think at the moment.

Once Hereford is done, I manage to escape from the pogo before Abuela Coca (Grandma Coca) starts, I have no interest in that band so I go look for my friends. The girl was ok, but my friend received an elbow on his face, he's not injured, but feels a bit of pain, nothing too much. We kinda have a not very nice argument at the time, I was rather depressed for not meeting with my other friend I received the SMS from and upset, so at the first chance we got, we had an argument.

Trotsky Vengaran starts, I like the band but decide not to enter the pogo again, I just listen and watch from afar, I love the sound of it.

La Vela Puerca is the last one, I was mad at my friends and still upset so to release some stress I decide to enter the pogo again. I elbow my way into the middle of the crowd and have some fun. The band, like the rest, thank all of us for the festival, for the mood, for the attitude (you see, the bands were of a rather wide variety of rock types, it's not unusual to see people causing trouble and fighting with each other at such festivals or even simple rock concerts in other places, but here there was no violence of any kind, I was very much surprised, as with everything else at the time), and the crowd starts singing a popular song to our country (when the band was speaking, everyone yelling "Uruguay!, uruguay!..." real excellent.

When I don't feel my legs anymore, I manage to leave the pogo and meet my friends, they look defeated and tired, and were worried for me as I had disappeared without many words, we leave before the band is over as we want to avoid the mass at the moment it leaves the place.

Other friends we had met up with will join us at the camping site, they will pick up their stuff and go look for us. We go back in a rather tense atmosphere, not many words were spoken at the time, the few were an exchange between me and one of my tentmates, and was not as pleasant as usual. Nevermind, we return to the tent and this time we prepare for the cold of the night, I get my thickest clothing on and throw my woolen blanket on, this time I *won't* feel the cold...

 

Day 2 (D-Day + 1, end of the festival)

Aha! the cold didn't get me this time! we were so tired last night that we slept until 12 o'clock this time, I check my cellphone.. weird, the other guys were supposed to come join us in the night at the site, they were supposed to call me so we could indicate them where were we. Nevermind, we grab a bite, drink something and play more Truco, where I beat my friend again in the most humilliating defeat he has ever suffered I play Tutti-Fruti with the girl and suffer a sad defeat of my own

A night's sleep fixes everything, the tense atmosphere between me and my friends was gone and it was all good. We do something here and there and proceed to the festival once again! Now the crowd at the camping site is at it's maximum, tents seemed to have sprouted from no where, and I recall wakign up in the middle of the night and seeing people around us placing more tents and just laying there, La Trampa (the trap) plays today and most people came just to watch it (I was particularly looking forward to that band).

On the way there I receive another SMS by my friend! I had originally thought she didn't want to really meet me, and thus hadn't answered my messages the previous day, but she tells me where she is and tells me to go with her! My friends walk faster as they don't really feel like being before me when I am upset. When we enter, Sordromo was playing, I love the band but it's near the end of it, crap, I take my annoyance by it on the girl, who was walking slowly all the way here we missed each other a lot, I take the chance to apologise for some of my past actions, to my immense happyness and relief she accepts my apologies and tells me that we'll work it out and everything is going to be ok, to be honest I had trouble letting her go, but I do it and she takes me to her friends she came to the festival with. Good people, I liked them, we listen to Buitres (Vultures) together, I was supposed to meet my tent mates to hang out together, but now that I had found her, I couldn't leave her, the idea didn't even cross my mind. Buitres' songs fit perfectly the occassion, as I expected and hoped they would, I can already feel her coming back to me, as I am coming back to her, I had gained my friend back. After Buitres we feel dehydrated so we go drink something. Once Tiros (Eleven Shots) is playing and we are not very interested by it, when Once Tiros is finishing, we go into the Pogo to enjoy La Trampa.

I stay behind her to protect her from the jumping crowd (of which I am a part of at the time, along with her friends), as I am strong enough I manage to keep the people off her, one of her friends takes the chance to also use me as a pogo bodyguard and throws her arms around my waist and gets close to me, I keep the people off them as we have fun.

La Trampa was the most excellent experience I had while on the Pilsen Rock 2005, not only I had my best friend close to me, but the band sounded terrific, the people all around were just awesome, I had met with dozens of old acquaintances from school and the university (one of them was so drunk he hadn't recognised me at first ).

Unfortunately my friend has to leave, at 00:00 No Te Va Gustar enters the stage, we sit down for a while and listen to it, I love No Te Va Gustar. At 01:00 AM they have to leave as they have to catch the train soon, I have to watch her leave again after kissing her goodbye, hoping to see her soon again, which we agree we will have to (to my already growing happiness).

I go to the rendezvous point to meet my other friends, I felt like floating and had a rare expression on my face some people call "smile" my friends were a bit surprised to see me in that state. I meet two of them, not my tentmates but other two, moments afterwars my tentmates show up, they were very worried and were looking for me, as I had been away since 7:00 PM and I hadn't reappeared as we usually do, but I don't feel like making explanations and I feel compelled to enter the pogo, but my energies are completely drain, I wouldn't take it in there again, so I just stay near the crowd without entering it and jump and sing with the remainder of my strengths. No Te Va Gustar plays until 2:30 AM (yes! they played for 2 and a half hours! amazing!), one of the greatest plays, as they sing their tribute to uruguayan rock, singing a song composed by parts of the other invited bands' own songs, I got to tell you, that sounded awesome, mostly because of the meaning of the act. Afterwards they sing "A Don José", a folklore song which is real old and is about my country's hero, Jose Gervasio Artigas "The Protector of the Free People", a man who attempted to unite the provinces of the Rio de la Plata to escape the English, Portuguese and Spanish attempts to conquer the region (he succeeds at fighting them off, but was finally betrayed and the Provincias Unidas del Plata (United Provinces of the Plata) were finally defeated by the english via diplomacy), everyone was very surprised, popular folklore is not common to be heard in a rock festival! but they played it amazingly, everyone singing and yelling "Uruguay", flags moving violently, at the end, the band plays the national anthem... now that's something I really didn't expect, and I most certainly didn't expect people to sing along with it, but we all did.

 

So, that's it, I left the day after that and arrived today, I missed my bed but I really liked the experience and I will be coming back next year! They estimate around 130.000 - 150.000 people attended the Festival, way more than they expected, can't wait till next year

[Guest Azrael]

Returning to routine.... (I miss the festival already, damnit)

 

- Texts completed: XCAP Chassis (Mad), XCAP-AG Chassis (Mad), Cannon XCAP (Mad), Laser XCAP (Mad), GDL XCAP-AG (Moriarty), Rocket XCAP (Mad). Plasma XCAP-AG is free, in case someone wants to complete the last XCAP text.

I'll upload them into SVN as soon as I finish updating TortoiseSVN.

 

- Moved Xenium-122 (Denevive) back to Complete, sorry for my mistake.

 

  post 172 said:

It's "Colombia" not Columbia, and Manchester is not playing, this is for the World Cup, also, what is FSC?

I'll let you know when we beat Argentina FIREdevil.gif

 

SHAMELESS HIJACK BY RK: Keep dreaming, for that you have to still win against Australia to get in the cup smile.gif

URUGUAY 1 - ARGENTINA 0

How did you like THAT, red boy?

Edited October 13, 2005 by Azrael

[Guest Azrael]

- Oh no! they got dipstick!! Don't worry, we'll avenge you

 

- I'll start working on the X-Com Wiki, the Apocalypse part which no one seems to want to work on

[[dipstick]]

I will haunt you for the rest of your life Az. I will....

[Guest Azrael]

Oh, shush you, you already haunt me

Construction of the secondary base is going to start, so if anyone else wants to, please join my game!

- dipstick and I tried Total Annihilation, if you'd like to play with us, please post in the TA thread in the Patio

[[dipstick]]

*invades log with Krogoths*

 

Damned right people! TA has to be the greatest game ever - and you do NOT need the game to play - TA is one of the few games that (LEGALLY!!) allows people to play without the game - just make sure you have a decent internet connection to receive the files required

[Guest Azrael]

Legallity is subjective, depends on what country you're on, US copyright laws have no place here . For more information on how those laws don't apply everywhere, read this it's very funny Edited July 19, 2008 by Azrael Strife

[[dipstick]]

I agree Az, on your post and thread, but this is actually legal as described by the people who made the game

[Guest Azrael]

  dipstick said:

I agree Az, on your post and thread, but this is actually legal as described by the people who made the game

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I know, but I don't care about that kind of legallity

[Guest Azrael]

- Posted Data Gathering for StrategyCore site task, looking for volunteers.

 

- Tried to make a graphic version of the Tech Tree on Word 2003, but failed, Word makes nice diagrams but doesn't fit what I needed, if someone knows of a way or a program to do them, please post here or PM me.

 

- Updated and uploaded the XML Tech Tree into SVN Repository, XCAP modifications.

 

Wheee, stress-relieving weekend coming up!

[Guest Azrael]

- Finally managed to defeat dipstick and ATeX at Total Annihilation, ATeX just wouldn't let go

dipstick had the upper hand for a bit because he refused to tell me how to defend myself from nuclear missiles

 

- Done a sweep of all active texts (that was tiresome ), and I've moved a few texts that were completed:

UFO Construction, Alien Medical Room, GAIA Missile, GAIA Defense Array, Base Access Facility, Missile Defense array... some others, I believe, I'm tired and don't really remember , also updated the CTD Progress List, and I'm happy to see we already have well over half the texts completed kudos to Mad, Moriarty, Astyanax, kafros and Kikanaide for all their hard work during these past weeks/months (sorry if I forgot anyone), we now seem to be entering a more passive phase, as everyone (including me) is with lots of study and cannot devote a lot of time (as apparently is happening with the rest of the Project as well).

I also posted a list of all active texts, to show who is doing what and what has no one working on it.

Edited October 25, 2005 by Azrael

[Guest Azrael]

Sorry, no news, nope, if you entered this thread all excited when you saw it flashing in that dazzling red of a new post and were expecting to see something new I'm afraid to say you were wrong, everything is pretty quiet... maybe I should just advertise the Xenocide Club of Age Of Empires II, but nah, don't feel like it, if you're worthy, you'll join us yourself

I just noticed I haven't updated the news when I should have, must have been busy at the time and slipped by (No one reminded me either

[Guest Azrael]

News updated in the main site cool concept art and models I should have posted earlier, sorry!

[Guest Azrael]

I need a new avatar

 

- The CTD will now begin discussing the official backstory, we'll try to do it together.

 

- I passed Economy and have gained the right to take the exam Also, if I'm not mistaken, I passed Discrete Mathematics 1 as well, so I'm now studying for Discrete I's exam this Dec 20 and will take the Economy exam on February

[[stewart]]

I'm tempted to merge all of Azrael's adjacent posts

[kafros]

the HORROR

 

Az: http://www.avatarity.com/

 

Or you could use once of those wonderful Sexydeath avatars

http://www.sexydeath.net/downloads.php

[Guest Azrael]

  kafros said:

the HORROR

 

Az: http://www.avatarity.com/

 

Or you could use once of those wonderful Sexydeath avatars

http://www.sexydeath.net/downloads.php

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Meh, I don't like Sexydeath, but I like the other link, thanks!

[Guest Azrael]

Ok, I feel it's time to continue with my log...

 

- I passed Economy and most likely Discrete Mathematics I, this means I've gained the right to take the exams.

 

- Darkhomb is working on the Raptor model, not sure what exactly he's doing, I think I heard the word "unwrapping", but that, of course, has no meaning to me.

 

- Did I post about testarossa's Collector concept? well, he completed it, awesome looking one btw, and level is working on the model right now.

 

- ATeX has suffered a problem with his DSL so he has no internet for now, only dialup.

 

- We are working on sorting the main points of the Xenocide Backstory, it is important since the rest of the texts will have to be coherent with it, especially the ones like the Origins.

 

- Red Knight is setting up a server to make nightly builds.

 

- I've set up a board (InvisionFree) for the Rebel Alliance faction on Star Wars Combine, I hope I can convince the high-ups to drop that silly Avid Gamers and use a real board.

 

- The StrategyCore guys are discussing X-Com: Resurrection, some sort of plan to convince TakeTwo (the actual owners of the X-Com copyrights, yes, not Atari) to make a new X-Com game.

 

- ALTAR has announced the development of UFO: Afterlight, the sequel to UFO: Aftershock, which in turn is the sequel to UFO: Aftermath.

Unfortunately it's very much possible that it will also be embebbed with StarForce, so that's another sequel I won't be playing , not that I have a lot of time anyway.

I tell you, this semester was worse than that time I got kicked out of that stripclub...

 

- Electronic Arts has announced that they will release C&C: The First Decade! it'll have the original game, plus Red alert and Red alert 2, in addition to all the expansions, it also has the crappy Generals, but nevermind that, it also has some real good games developed by the good ol' Westwood, before EA got the rights and smashed the name Command & Conquer into bits.

[Guest Azrael]

- Mad made a newsletter, and I made a cover for it, unfortunately the censorship got there before I got to show it to the rest of you the critique said it was "disturbing content", truly to be proud of

 

- Who cares about that! At the end I did got all the points I needed to gain the right to take the exam of Discrete Mathematics I, so I took it yesterday at 18:00, there was a strike among the University employees (not teachers, they are on another guild, and not students who are in yet another guild) and the conflict was resolved yesterday, so all exams were taken at the same time, 19 exams being taken at 1800, that was madness, the faculty was crowded, heh, well, I took the exam, and passed! unless some calamity falls on me again, I've got all the points I need, so no more Discrete Mathematics 1, EVER... well, there is Discrete Mathematics 2 later on...

[Guest Azrael]

- Great, I'm sick now, I wasn't feeling all too well but I decided to take my gf to a rock concert anyway, didn't want her to miss it (and I wanted to see it too), came back home at 2 ? or 3 AM feeling like my head was gonna blow, even though i had taken tome pills when I was with her on the park. Not only I felt bad, but it started raining at the concert, add that to my present disease.

Now I'm all sore, thankfully I can feel the antibodies doing their job, my head doesn't hurt as much... and now I'm hungry, oh burgers!

 

- On a xenocide-related note(s):

Davit (dteviot) has implemented a production system on Xenocide, I don't know the state of its development, but looks like he's progressing very nicely, excellent work! He's also working on the research system.

Edited December 22, 2005 by Azrael

[[dipstick]]

Hope you feel better soon

 

PS Not ANOTHER AfterX game... *sigh*

[Guest Azrael]

Thanks

*chases away dipstick with a broom*

 

- I made a graphic for the Xenocide Tech Tree, first try was crappy, second one is more decent, I hope, at least it can be read...

[Guest Azrael]

- Going on camping tomorrow, coming back on Monday, no internet.

[Guest Azrael]

- Back from camping, I'm tanned and tired, starting to study for Economy exam tomorrow, the exam is in Feb.

 

- Updated CTD Progress Release in SVN, added links to all threads and who is working on what.

 

- Updated Active Texts List.

 

- Updated "Development Team" on the Wiki and started a thread for people to put their real names in to add to the list (for those who want to)

Edited January 10, 2006 by Azrael

[Guest Azrael]

- Finally updated news (doing it right now)

 

- Project section in StrategyCore is up (thanks, Slaughter). I've asked Slaughter to rearrange the screenies as they look messed up a bit.

 

- Reworking on Research.xml by david's request (I can't wait to see production and research on xenocide!)

 

- David proposed a good idea on the Labs, an Aeroscape, which would basically be a 2d battlescape with UFOs and X-Corps crafts, in opposition to X-Com's rather lame interception screen, I think it's very interesting and would like to see it implemented, some day...

[Guest Azrael]

- Commited the updated research.xml so David can get on with his work, also fixed a mistake in english.xml and updated some names in basic.xsd while at it.

 

- Finally got UFO: Aftershock! whee, so far it's been fun

 

- Downloaded CDDA ripper XP as Mad recommended, Winamp was ripping CDs very badly, screwing up the songs, let's try this one, so far it's faster than Winamp.

[Guest Azrael]

- Shinzon completed the barracks! posted it in the news.

[kafros]

  Azrael said:

- Downloaded CDDA ripper XP as Mad recommended, Winamp was ripping CDs very badly, screwing up the songs, let's try this one, so far it's faster than Winamp.

Try Audiograbber 1.83 (freeware) with LAME 3.96.1 Mp3 encoder. The best you can get

[Guest Azrael]

I'm happy with CDDA Ripper for now, thanks.

 

- Did some more work on the PX section in StrategyCore: http://www.strategycore.co.uk/forums/index.php?showforum=65. Also, Slaughter was kind to rearrange the xenocide artwork as I asked him, thanks!

I'll be relaying news from PX in SC from now on (unless Slaughter objects )

[Guest Azrael]

- Wrote the Soldier Equipment System for the Planetscape Planning sheet here.

 

- Opened a new section in the wiki for the more detailed Planetscape tasks here

(also opened one for the future Battlescape tasks)

 

- After playing some of UFO: Afteshock... I have to say I'm not terribly impressed... the game, though not bad, does indeed exceed UFO: Aftermath in almost every aspect and corrects a whole lot of mistakes made there (design mistakes, not bugs... which there are plenty of them), but they made a whole new batch of mistakes in this version... I'm finding the game a tad boring and to be honest, not half as fun as X-Com: Apocalypse (the only X-Com I really like). The graphics are cool (*very* cool), the geosphere looks better than ever, but the game lacks something. I found the resource system to be very annoying so far, including the hideous track system required to connect provinces, the three resources are bogus and rather... unrealistic? I mean, "Psionic Resources", what the heck are they? they won't say, but your most basic weapons factory requires them, even though the territories you get at first don't contain *any* psionic resources (you can get them easily, but supposedly you have no clue what those are until you encounter them, so why do I freaking need them to build the most basic and stupid factory (or lab) of all? sheesh!

ALTAR took a few steps backwards in battlescape environments, drastically reducing the amount of available maps to play, making them noticeably repetitive.

I absolutely dislike the training and level-up system, yuck.

Why can't anyone make decent games anymore? Every single freaking game I've gotten and played in the last months has been a piece of crap, that is including GTA San Andreas, Star Rangers 2, UFO: Aftershock, FarCry, F.E.A.R., and a whole lot more; make something decent for cry it out loud! ...yes, I'm done

[kafros]

Star Rangers 2??? I played Star Rangers demo in 1995 (96?), wonderful times... ^^

 

What's the problem with GTA3, FarCry?

 

YOU DON'T LIKE F.E.A.R.? Mad, let's grab the whips

Edited January 21, 2006 by kafros

[[dipstick]]

Either FEAR or STALKER was supposed to be revolutionary in that it interacted with itself, I thought it was FEAR...

[UnFleshed One]

  Quote

I found the resource system to be very annoying so far, including the hideous track system required to connect provinces, the three resources are bogus and rather... unrealistic? I mean, "Psionic Resources", what the heck are they? they won't say, but your most basic weapons factory requires them, even though the territories you get at first don't contain *any* psionic resources (you can get them easily, but supposedly you have no clue what those are until you encounter them, so why do I freaking need them to build the most basic and stupid factory (or lab) of all? sheesh!

 

There is no "Psionic Resources" . There is alien junk (crashed UFOs, forgotten bases, and all the stuff that can be salvaged from there). Also there is hightech human junk and lowtech human junk.

 

Also don't forget that you already have about 1000 units of every recource. So you kinda know about it.

 

And finally, if a factory needs alien materials, then it needs it. Don't forget, you are using alien labs to develop that factory.

 

So it is not that inconsistent . You are quite unattentive for a leader of CTD

 

And I rather liked resource system. I always was short on alien resources...

Edited January 22, 2006 by UnFleshed One

[Guest Azrael]

  UnFleshed One said:

  Quote

I found the resource system to be very annoying so far, including the hideous track system required to connect provinces, the three resources are bogus and rather... unrealistic? I mean, "Psionic Resources", what the heck are they? they won't say, but your most basic weapons factory requires them, even though the territories you get at first don't contain *any* psionic resources (you can get them easily, but supposedly you have no clue what those are until you encounter them, so why do I freaking need them to build the most basic and stupid factory (or lab) of all? sheesh!

 

There is no "Psionic Resources" . There is alien junk (crashed UFOs, forgotten bases, and all the stuff that can be salvaged from there). Also there is hightech human junk and lowtech human junk.

 

Also don't forget that you already have about 1000 units of every recource. So you kinda know about it.

 

And finally, if a factory needs alien materials, then it needs it. Don't forget, you are using alien labs to develop that factory.

 

So it is not that inconsistent . You are quite unattentive for a leader of CTD

 

And I rather liked resource system. I always was short on alien resources...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think you're not remembering it very well There are Human resources, Psionic resources and Cyborg resources.

It's somewhat inconsistant to ask you to build a basic lab using resources you are not mining (I know you start with lots of them), just doesn't make sense to me.

I really hate the resource system

[UnFleshed One]

No, there is Alien junk wich is associated with psionics. Meaning they have it in abundance. There is hight tech junk which mostly cyborgs have. And rusty scrap mere human use.

 

I played it only a couple of days ago

 

Why do you think regions with green (psionic/alien) resources always had an alien base on 'em?

Edited January 22, 2006 by UnFleshed One

[Guest Azrael]

  UnFleshed One said:

No, there is Alien junk wich is associated with psionics. Meaning they have it in abundance. There is hight tech junk which mostly cyborgs have. And rusty scrap mere human use.

 

I played it only a couple of days ago

 

Why do you think regions with green (psionic/alien) resources always had an alien base on 'em?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You're right, I confused the icons with cyborgs and psionics.

And I've captured regions with alien resources that had only a sad bunch of transgenants there, I haven't seen any Alien base yet.

[[dteviot]]

  Azrael said:

  UnFleshed One said:

No, there is Alien junk wich is associated with psionics. Meaning they have it in abundance. There is hight tech junk which mostly cyborgs have. And rusty scrap mere human use.

 

I played it only a couple of days ago

 

Why do you think regions with green (psionic/alien) resources always had an alien base on 'em?

You're right, I confused the icons with cyborgs and psionics.

And I've captured regions with alien resources that had only a sad bunch of transgenants there, I haven't seen any Alien base yet.

According to the walkthrough, the resources you get from each area are randomly determined. And the distribution can be very uneven. Which is what happened to me. In the entire EU, I had only a single "low tech" mine, all the rest were high tech and alien/psionic. Which was a real pain, as low tech is what you need the most of. I couldn't even afford to run any tracks.

[Guest Azrael]

  dteviot said:

  Azrael said:

  UnFleshed One said:

No, there is Alien junk wich is associated with psionics. Meaning they have it in abundance. There is hight tech junk which mostly cyborgs have. And rusty scrap mere human use.

 

I played it only a couple of days ago

 

Why do you think regions with green (psionic/alien) resources always had an alien base on 'em?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You're right, I confused the icons with cyborgs and psionics.

And I've captured regions with alien resources that had only a sad bunch of transgenants there, I haven't seen any Alien base yet.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

According to the walkthrough, the resources you get from each area are randomly determined. And the distribution can be very uneven. Which is what happened to me. In the entire EU, I had only a single "low tech" mine, all the rest were high tech and alien/psionic. Which was a real pain, as low tech is what you need the most of. I couldn't even afford to run any tracks.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I am not enjoying this resource system one bit, and I didn't even know it was random, now I dislike it even more.

[UnFleshed One]

  Quote

I am not enjoying this resource system one bit, and I didn't even know it was random, now I dislike it even more.

 

I wonder if we can make something similar for xenocide

[Guest Azrael]

  UnFleshed One said:

  Quote

I am not enjoying this resource system one bit, and I didn't even know it was random, now I dislike it even more.

 

I wonder if we can make something similar for xenocide

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No <_<

[Guest Azrael]

Forgot to post this the other day:

 

- Posted my take on UFO Movements on Planetscape Planning.xls thread, awaiting comments/approval by Rincewind/Red Knight before doing more. David posted Manufacturing System, IIRC.

 

- Crispy, Mr_S and ATeX are working on their Planetscape theme, sounds awesome! if that's how our music is going to sound, Xenocide is soooo going to beat ALTAR and their After**** games! here comes a real spiritual successor!

[Guest Azrael]

- Tried to install MySQL today on my system, but the stupid thing wouldn't let me, something about a password, I have to look into it. Plan is to help a friend with an online game in PHP when I finish this damn exam, should be fun, if I manage to learn something useful...

[Guest Azrael]

- Yay! Slaughter's pack worked! (http://www.xcomufo.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=242024936) Apache and MySQL are working, now I got to figure out how to sort out some password issues, I have to read how to set them up...

 

- Downloading About to get Halo: Combat Evolved. Hope it's as good as they say, I don't remember what good games look like anymore. Reading a post in StrategyCore made me want to play Planescape: Torment again, one of the best (probably THE best) RPGs I have ever played, like *ever*, not as much hack n' slash, the game is focused on a really awesome story, characters feel alive and are really interesting, I love Morte!

 

- Read Powerpuff Girls webcomics... now that's some amazing drawing: http://bleedman.snafu-comics.com/comics/040118.jpg

 

- Playing a Wargame in Star Wars Combine, we are going to simulate an attack on an Imperial fleet stationed in Commenor, a system deep in the Corellia Sector. Heh, it took me about a week (real time) to get from the Rebel Alliance's home sector Republica to Commenor in a small borrowed shuttle, now I've been issued a calamari cruiser!

 

- JOIN OUR IRC CHANNEL!!!

 

- Star Wars: Empire at War demo has been released!

Edited January 25, 2006 by Azrael

[Guest Azrael]

- Halo proved to be a very entertaining FPS, happy I downloaded got it

 

- Posted UFOs, UFO Attacks and UFO Missions, waiting for comments by Rincewind / RK.

[Guest Azrael]

- Been reading http://www.leasticoulddo.com/, another webcomic, not bad, funny, but it's probably fun only for adults.

 

- With Madbull gone, Fallen.se will eventually die, unfortunately. But this doesn't mean anything! Loki has began the development of the online game we've been itching to have, done in PHP with an MySQL database and possibly flash. I'll be learning some PHP (or try to) and help with database filling when designing the galaxy, right now I'll be trying to work out a backstory text and the factions / races, also I will be looking at the rules from Star Wars Combine to take ideas about how to deal with certain situations. Loki has Chat and Forum nearly done (if not done already), he's now working on a way to let me access his local server so I can give him a hand with it. So far the plan is to use www.bluehost.com as hosting for the game, once it's launched.

 

- Having tons of fun with Halo: Combat Evolved, finally a fun game to play. Btw, if you haven't, get Planescape: Torment, best RPG around (beats the heck out of Neverwinter Nights in terms of Single Player, since NWN is not a great deal unless played online, also very superior to Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 in terms of storyline, best one I've ever seen, plus awesome characters).