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Let The Evil Creativity Flow! in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Thursday, January 18 2007 17:45 Profile Homepage #20
quote:
Originally written by Garrison:

I'd rather not trust any weapons of mass anything to the US government. It is not as if I do not have confidence in their ability to keep it safe; it is just that they would be exceedingly trigger happy with a new assassination technique. Then again, I would not entrust such power into my own hands either. I guess this just begs the question of who is truly qualified to have control over such a powerful weapon.
...
Unfortunately, US government already has enough weapons of mass destruction to completely depopulate Earth. As does Russian government. And French, British, Chinese, Israeli, Indian, and Pakistani governments have some nukes as well. And that doesn't even count all the chemical and biological weapons that have been developed throughout the world over the last century.

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Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Infractions! in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Thursday, January 18 2007 17:31 Profile Homepage #42
Everybody who posts in General was guilty of #10 at least once.

EDIT: Looks like I just broke rule #4. ****!

EDIT2: And that broke rule #3. The stupid white person who posted this thread was just asking for it.

EDIT3: That were rules #10 and 11. This is what happens on a forum where you can choose whether to aid the rebels or their former masters, choose from many possible paths to victory, and, as always, command an army of totally obedient mutant monsters.

EDIT4: And that broke rule #2. While we are at it, does anybody have registration codes for Spidweb games?

EDIT5: That went against rules #13 and 16.

EDIT6: That's about as many checkboxes as I can check after making a single post. :P

[ Thursday, January 18, 2007 17:40: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
American - Canadian Relationships in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Thursday, January 18 2007 17:28 Profile Homepage #31
quote:
Originally written by Andraste:

Knowledge of anything is beneath most Americans apparently.

Case in point, today in English class my Professor said that we are going to read a paper by John Ashcroft. Then she asked if we knew who he was. :rolleyes: I started to laugh, but was silenced when no body raised their hand. It was disgusting.

Just needed to vent. :mad:
That was a joke, right?
I understand that most students don't read news every day, but it's kind of hard to completely ignore a frequent name like that.

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Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
A Statistically Happy New Year! in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Thursday, January 18 2007 12:01 Profile Homepage #31
quote:
Originally written by Micawber.:

I'd like to see Aranbot calculate what percentage of posts are posts about posts, as opposed to proper posts. For example, this thread, any celebration threads, and all the discussion of monikers, titles and signatures. I assume there would be an appropriate level of challenge in designing the reg exp to capture all this accurately.
There are three ways to do this.

The simplest formula I've suggested a while ago is:
if (postcount > 1000) {
validPosts = (postcount % 1000) / 2;
} else {
validPosts = postcount % 100;
}

A more precise formula, that was suggested some time ago and is the most accurate approximation that can be achieved with reasonable ease is:

valid_posts = (postcount - posts_in_general_forum - posts_in_game_threads_with_over_100_replies - 2*posts_in_RWG_forum) / 2

Finally, the most sophisticated formula would take into account post length relative to thread average, presence of words such as "spam", "postcount", "karma", "turtle", and "superkalifragilisticexpialadosious"(sp?), along with weighted spam tendency calculated by hand for each poster.

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Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Hey Look, I'm playing Subterra! in SubTerra
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Monday, January 15 2007 15:38 Profile Homepage #8
I also have no problem with F10 in XP, so I'll just repeat the suggestion to disable the spellcheck mapping for that key.

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Post here if you still play BoE in Blades of Exile
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Monday, January 15 2007 15:32 Profile Homepage #4
quote:
There are, in fact, several people who still prefer BoE.
That statement in Kel's faq is correct. For example, I don't even have BoA.

[ Monday, January 15, 2007 15:33: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Home-written comics in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Saturday, January 6 2007 17:17 Profile Homepage #13
I like your comics.

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
In memoriam, Polaris in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Saturday, January 6 2007 17:13 Profile Homepage #8
polaris.ermarian.net gives "Server not found" error. Talking about which, did you intentionally disable endeavor.ermarian.net?

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Roofs? in The Exile Trilogy
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Saturday, January 6 2007 17:00 Profile Homepage #4
You also could heat your rooms to make them warmer than (relatively cold) cave temperature.

Another reason could be simple force of habit. People are used to living in houses with roofs, so they build them the same way underground. For example, in many cases it would be easier to simply build a wall in front of a section of a cave, but people still build all four walls in those areas.

PS Talking about cave temperature, what is the temperature of Exile's caves?

[ Saturday, January 06, 2007 17:01: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
A hypothetical scenario in Geneforge Series
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Friday, January 5 2007 18:44 Profile Homepage #57
quote:
Originally written by Waylander:

Zeviz:
quote:

Waylander, if you can't resist discussing Israel,
I'm not. You are attempting to push me into discussing it, however.
...
quote:
Originally written by Waylander:

...
Witness Israel's use of collective punishment against the Palestinians and Lebanese in order to 'suppress terrorism' (this is merely an example. And yet, we observe the opposite effect (this is merely used as an example, not to open a new point of discussion).

The Nazis also employed collective punishment, to their detriment.
Your comparison of Israel with Nazi Germany is about as insensitive as the Pope's remarks about Islam, or those Danish Mohammed cartoons.

If you don't understand why those annoying Jews got so offended, please stop for a moment and think of what it sounds like when you bring up Israel as the only other example in a thread that talks about Nazi Germany (who attempted to exterminate the Jews, among other atrocities), Imperial Japan, and Geneforge Shapers (whom you consider to be equivalent of the two RL powers). The implication of this comparison is that that a life of 1 Palestinian is worth more than lives of 1000 Jews, several thousand Russians, and 1000 Chinese, among other victims of Axis powers.

[ Friday, January 05, 2007 18:54: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Episode 3: A New Game in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Friday, January 5 2007 17:08 Profile Homepage #863
Very nice plot twist. I had to re-read chapter 25 again to see where that came from. (I knew something was up when Zeviz showed that dagger in the end of chapter 25, but didn't make the connection with Smoo and potential for more wererats.)

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
A hypothetical scenario in Geneforge Series
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Friday, January 5 2007 16:58 Profile Homepage #51
Waylander, the problem with your conclusion is that responces of most people fall into the wast area between "will do anything, including blowing up children at restaraunts" and "fighting only proper battles between uniformed armies". These people chose randomly between options 3 and 4 of your poll, so in reality the number of people who would chose the most extreme option is probably much lower. If you want to draw comparisons with Geneforge situation, you need a more refined poll, which I think I'll make.

I think following categories should do:
1. No resistance.
2. Unarmed resistance doomed to failure.
3. Fighting only proper battles between armies. (Already failed, otherwise you wouldn't be conquered.)
4. Trying to minimize enemy's civilian casualties, even at the risk to own fighters.
5. Doing whatever it takes to destroy military objectives, including military hospitals and bases where soldiers live together with families.
6. Attacking civilians just to "stir things up".
7. Torturing children, spreading deseases among civilian population, etc.

Option 6 would be equivalent to the behavior of Rebels in the Geneforge series.

Does anybody have any suggestions before I make the new poll?

PS (Off-topic.) Waylander, if you can't resist discussing Israel, please tell me how Australia would respond if a group of people started blowing up restaraunts and dance clubs, demanding control over the country? (Palestinian suicide bombers come from groups like Hamas that don't accept any solution short of complete destruction of Israel.)

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Waiting Time in Geneforge Series
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Friday, January 5 2007 16:30 Profile Homepage #6
"Spiderweb Software" consists of 3 people: husband, wife, and a family friend. While they usually respond within a day, it can take much longer if they have a backlog because they just returned from vocation, or are sick, or have some other family emergency.

So don't worry if it takes them a few days to respond. If you don't hear from them by middle of next week, try again.

[ Friday, January 05, 2007 16:30: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
SubTerra levelpack 2006 in SubTerra
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Thursday, January 4 2007 11:39 Profile Homepage #6
Thanks for information.

Congratulations to Stew Boy and Caterina (if she still reads these boards)! :)

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
A hypothetical scenario in Geneforge Series
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Thursday, January 4 2007 11:19 Profile Homepage #33
Aran, in the analysis you posted on your blog, you are forgetting that the main factor in whether people chose to resist the occupation is their feelings about their old government and the occupying force. An illustration of that was a poll by Tullegolar where people's willingness to defend their country ranged from few people being willing to find another similar nation to almost everybody being willing to fight Martian invaders who want to enslave or destroy humanity.

quote:
Originally written by Micawber.:

Good heavens, I'm the only one to vote for passive resistance. In real life, I think quite a number of people would choose this option.
That's because passive resistance works only against people with conscience. The occupiers described here have no problem sending people to death camps, or monstrous medical experiments, so they aren't going to hesitate to kill anybody trying to organize a demonstration. Your death wouldn't even succeed in encouraging others to join your cause, because if people weren't convinced by other atrocities, they will not be convinced by your death either.

As for whether people saying that they would follow option 3.5 would go through with it, that might depend on their upbringing, as much as personality. If the simulation Nikki described in his post had been performed in a Soviet school, a lot more kids would have volunteered. (This is not necessarily a good thing, but some balance is needed between the extremes of being excessively militaristic and being unwilling to ever defend your country.)

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
SubTerra levelpack 2006 in SubTerra
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Wednesday, January 3 2007 19:27 Profile Homepage #2
Radiant, could you also upload the 2001 levelpack. (The official version of SubTerra is missing it.)

quote:
Originally written by Spent Salmon:

Hey, good job Stew Boy!
Which of the winners is the Stew Boy?

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
A hypothetical scenario in Geneforge Series
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Wednesday, January 3 2007 19:21 Profile Homepage #11
Waylander, could you keep RL politics to the General subforum, so that people who come here to get away from that mess wouldn't have to get involved in "debates" about Israel in game forums.

As for the original poll, I'd vote for option 3.5: The same level of violence gurillas(sp?) performed during real World War II. (The clarified Option 3 sounds the same as Option 2, with the only difference being that in former case collective suicide is performed by marching with handguns against tanks, and in latter case it's performed by marching with peace banners against tanks.)

[ Wednesday, January 03, 2007 19:24: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
A hypothetical scenario in Geneforge Series
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Wednesday, January 3 2007 17:47 Profile Homepage #7
quote:
Originally written by Waylander:

Zeviz, if you're confused by what I mean when I say 'Gentleman's War', think of the Geneva Conventions. Sure, they probably wouldn't exist in the alternative history I created, but use the Geneva Conventions when attempting to determine how one conducts a 'Gentleman's War'.
I am not familiar with the exact text of Geneva Convention. Which of the actions I've listed are allowed by it?

Also, doesn't Geneva Convention require strict separation between soldiers, who must always wear a uniform, and civilians? If so, how exactly are you planning to gather and arm your military without occupiers stopping every weapons shipment and killing every person who walks down the street wearing your uniform?

[ Wednesday, January 03, 2007 17:47: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
A hypothetical scenario in Geneforge Series
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Wednesday, January 3 2007 17:35 Profile Homepage #5
quote:
Originally written by Waylander:

Drakey:

The option of violent 'non-extremist' resistance is made available in Option 3. Hence my expression 'Gentleman's war'.
There is a wide range of options between "Gentlemen's war" and "distribute habit-forming drugs, encourage prostitution, disseminate venereal diseases, and engage in acts of wanton terrorism and violence".

Some things that fall into this range:
- attacking off-duty soldiers
- attacking military factories
- attacking railroads, bridges, and other infrastructure that can be used by both soldiers and civilians
- attacking power plants, machine shops, and other industry that has both military and civilian use
- kidnapping/killing political leaders
- kidnapping/killing relatives of leaders
- kidnapping/killing relatives of soldiers
- kidnapping/killing regular civilians

None of these things fall under the definition of "gentleman's war", but at least some of them (attacking off-duty soldiers and dual-use infrastructure) are necessary for any meaningful resistance against militarily-superior enemy.

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
What Games... in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Wednesday, January 3 2007 11:10 Profile Homepage #18
quote:
Originally written by Kuber:

quote:
Originally written by Zeviz:

Is first question supposed to refer to demos tried, or games registered? The answers would be quite different.
Any game which you've tried out. It doesn't matter if you registered.
In that case, my answer is similar to that of most others here: "almost all of them except Gf4, which isn't available for Windows, and perhaps E1."

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
New Year's Resolutions! in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Wednesday, January 3 2007 10:23 Profile Homepage #20
My resolution is to waste less time in front of computer. I've been successfully fulfilling it for 20 days and will go back to fulfilling it as soon as I finish this post. :P

[ Wednesday, January 03, 2007 10:23: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

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Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
What Games... in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Wednesday, January 3 2007 10:16 Profile Homepage #16
Is first question supposed to refer to demos tried, or games registered? The answers would be quite different.

I was brought to Spidweb games by Exile 2 and to these forums by Avernum 2. The only Spidweb game I still play more often than a few times a year is BoE.

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Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
The Final Spire help in Blades of Exile
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Friday, December 15 2006 09:56 Profile Homepage #3
If I remember correctly, you can't do it in combat mode.

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
How and how long? in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Wednesday, December 13 2006 13:11 Profile Homepage #2
The time distribution probably depends on the game. If Jeff is writing a new engine, like he did for Avernum 4, that part takes the most time. If he is using existing engine, the time consuming part would be town design. (Planning out the story apparently takes almost no time, because Jeff's post about taking a couple days to plan out Avernum 5 plot implied that he normally doesn't take even that much time to do it.)

Graphics are now done by Jeff and his wife with a modelling program, rather than by professional artists.

[ Wednesday, December 13, 2006 13:14: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
another environmental topic in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Wednesday, December 13 2006 13:02 Profile Homepage #9
quote:
Originally written by In Times of Tandem:

...
My understanding is that the world doesn't have a food shortage. It has a distribution shortage. Growing more food is not the solution, but moving more food for less effort and money or growing food in more locations could help.
...
If I am not mistaken, the problem is more with wealth distribution rather than food distribution. The agricultural products are already shipped all over the world, the only problem is that some people can't afford them.

And, paradoxically, making food even more dirt cheap than it already is would hurt those people rather than help them, because many poorest people in the world rely on farming to survive, or have to leave the farms to live in city slums. If they can't sell their products (due to plentiful cheap competition), they can't afford to buy fertilizers, fuel for their eqipment, etc.

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00

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