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Which game to play? in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Wednesday, October 18 2006 15:10 Profile Homepage #31
Talking about BoE demo giving bad impression of the game, there is a review forum for BoE scenarios at http://p080.ezboard.com/fthelyceumfrm27 The demo scenario is currently in 90th place with average rating 6.35 (highest scenario has rating 9.49, lowest - 1.00).

My personal recommendation would be to start with E2/A2 (whichever you prefer) and go back to A1 later if you want, because the first installment in each series is not as technologically polished as the following games. Geneforge series is good from game 1, but Geneforge 2 is still better, so you could start with that too.

SubTerra is a fun puzzle game that is now completely free. I like it, but it's not related to RPGs.

[ Wednesday, October 18, 2006 15:11: 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
Hidden Rooms? in Avernum 4
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Monday, September 25 2006 15:51 Profile Homepage #27
If I remember correctly, in Geneforge series luck has an effect on chances of getting gems, monster parts, and monster-specific items such as clawbug shield. If the effect on loot is similar in A4, you aren't going to see it until you fight many dozens of battles against monsters that have a chance of dropping rare items affected by Luck. (To give you an idea of rarety I am talking about, in Gf games you could play through entire game without getting some of these creature-specific items, and even with high luck you'd only get a couple throughout the game.)

--------------------
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
Happy Jewish New Year in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Friday, September 22 2006 19:12 Profile Homepage #2
Shana Tovah. :)

--------------------
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
2006 Candidates in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Tuesday, September 19 2006 15:21 Profile Homepage #6
quote:
Originally written by The_Other_Guy:

quote:
5. Notice that it is February and you totally missed the election.
WTH are you talking about? :confused: It's September, with the election coming up in November! (7th)
I think Salmon was trying to say that the only way to get "unbiased" information is to do all the research yourself, which would take so long that by the time you've discovered "the truth" the elections will be long over.

PS And if you want to find out unbiased information about the candidates without going through the trouble of following Salmon's advice, the best you could do would be going to their websites and comparing them yourself. Look for what things they focus on and what they are trying to avoid. Look at endorsement list. (If one candidate is supported by Evangelical groups and the other by ACLU and other liberal organizations, that could be enough information already.) If things aren't as clear-cut, you'll just have to analyze all the materials until you figure out which person's position sounds closer to yours. (Yes, that's a lot of work, which is why I vote for less than half of the 20+ positions in each election. I think it's better to skip half the choises than to blindly follow somebody's endorcement list.)

--------------------
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 Spiderweb Art Movement. in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Tuesday, September 19 2006 14:56 Profile Homepage #22
Why do you think that Alec read
Everything posted on this thread?
This kind of "critical response"
Is very easy to pronounce.
Just use scripted auto-reply
"This stupid thread deserves to die."

Anyway, this reaches thread's goal,
Increasing our posting toll.
Since heated arguments are blood
Of posted messages great flood.

As for the poems on this thread,
I am not in mood to have read
The ones that talk of sadness, pain,
Or of love's sudden loss or gain.

To Infernal I'd say oookay...
That was quite weird, anyway...
Salmon's amusing little joke
Reminds me of things from elementary school, inserting which would break the flow.

Aran's piece also strangeness-filled
Seems full of anguish unconcealed.
And Khoth, your great poetic wit,
Should on great monuments be writ.

I think this is long enough post.
Enough time on it had been lost.
If you don't like it, that's too bad
It will not make me really sad.
I'm just amused by random rhymes,
And like this silliness sometimes.
:)

[ Tuesday, September 19, 2006 15:03: 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
Anagrams in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Friday, August 25 2006 14:03 Profile Homepage #65
quote:
Originally written by Phantasm:

I doubt anyone could make a decent anagram of Riibu.
...
Riibu = i buri (и бури), which means "and the storms" in Russian. You didn't specify it had to be in English. :P

However, I doubt "Zeviz" can be done in any language. (Too short, with too many 'z's.)

[ Friday, August 25, 2006 14:06: 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
The Abominable Photo Thread Strikes Back in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Thursday, August 17 2006 11:09 Profile Homepage #92
quote:
Originally written by Enraged Slith:

What does FYT mean anyway? I looked it up and got "**** you too," but, based on the context I've seen it in, this doesn't make any sense.
FYT stands for "fixed your typo", but is used when making humorous or insulting edits to the included quote, rather than when fixing real typos.

quote:
On an unrelated note, are all these picture threads neccessary? I'm more than confident that unless you were in a recent motorcycle accident involving your face and the ground, none of you look any different than you did last month.
Since there was a gender revelation in every recent photo thread, maybe they want to decrease the perseived male/female ratio among active board members. :)

--------------------
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
Here's to the upcoming GF 5 and 6 ... in Geneforge 4: Rebellion
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Thursday, August 17 2006 10:08 Profile Homepage #9
quote:
Originally written by *i:

I've said this before, but personally I'm ready to see something totally new. Don't get me wrong, I like Geneforge and Avernum, but I think it's time for a nice standalone game like Nethergate.
I agree. I generally dislike long series, because quality tends to degrade over time and even if it doesn't, I prefer to read/watch/play something new. Even the best story gets stale if it's milked too much. I'll probably try a demo of Gf4, but it would have to be better than any previous games (a very high bar to cross) for me to register it.

[ Thursday, August 17, 2006 10:11: 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
Riddle Me This, Batman! in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Monday, August 14 2006 10:31 Profile Homepage #33
I like these apparent paradoxes.
quote:
Originally written by *i:

...
Let's suppose we play an n door game. In each round, the player selects a door (he/she may stay with the door from the previous round or may switch). Then, one door that (1) is not the selected door, and (2) does not contains the prize is removed. This continues until 2 doors remain where the player chooses.

What is the optimal strategy for the player?
Warning: the rest of my post contains an answer to above question. If you don't want to see any spoilers, stop reading it now. Or just scroll down past my post. Although there is no guarantee that the next post doesn't also contain spoilers.

That was enough buffer text, so here is my answer: If your initial door doesn't contain the prize and you stay with it until there are only 2 doors left, the host will be forced to leave only the prize door unopened, giving you (n-1)/n chance of winning if you switch only in the last round. (There is 1/n chance that you've picked the prize door in the first round.)

Detailed explanation for this is that in a multi-round game the probability of your door containing a prize is determined when you initially pick it and doesn't change unless you pick a different door. (The host couldn't possibly open the door you've selected for current round, so which doors he doesn't open gives you information only about other doors.) This means that by sticking with your initial selection until final round, you keep its probability of containing the prize down at 1/n, while the host keeps giving you more and more information about the rest of the doors, until there is only 1 door left. The probability that this last door contains the prize will be 1 - 1/n = (n-1)/n.

[ Monday, August 14, 2006 10:32: 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 screenshot in SubTerra
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Monday, August 7 2006 21:14 Profile Homepage #2
I am playing SubTerra and I just ran into this level. It's called "Ace of Spades" and is located near bottom right corner of the standard level set. (2nd row from bottom, 4rh column from right)

I know this reply is "a little" late, but better late than never. :)

--------------------
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
History in the making... in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Tuesday, August 1 2006 21:47 Profile Homepage #46
What caused this outbreak? (WKS didn't look that unstable to me.)

--------------------
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
Xylgham udwlnit skretcko!1!! in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Tuesday, August 1 2006 21:45 Profile Homepage #449
If this scenario ever sees the light of day, I'll register BoA just to play it. Chances are it will go the way of other cooperative projects, but you could get it done if you are serious enough about it.

--------------------
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
Web browsers in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Thursday, July 27 2006 13:49 Profile Homepage #21
quote:
Originally written by Sturg:

I guess Firefox is worth getting, but I use MSN Explorer, and it satisfies my needs quite nicely. I think it's basically IE with a new interface, but I'm counting on it to be more secure, and so far it's done okay.
Changing UI doesn't affect most security holes. So MSN-branded IE has just as many problems as the regular one. Actually, it might have more problems than the regular one if it takes Microsoft longer to put out the patches for the MSN version.

quote:
Originally written by The Almighty Do-er of Stuff:

Another question: Is Firefox actually more secure than the latest version of IE, or is it just a less popular target with hackers?
I suspect it's a bit of both. It's not as deeply integrated with the OS, so there is less potential for problems, but lower number of users is probably another major factor.

[ Thursday, July 27, 2006 13:50: 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
G4 Highlight Predictor in Geneforge Series
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Thursday, July 27 2006 13:38 Profile Homepage #6
The game will start at the funeral of Learned Darian. It will be a festive affair, with lots of drinking and dancing to celebrate his/her life. While you are dancing on Darian's grave, his/her ghost will appear and tell you how to craft the Crystal of Ultimate Knowledge to revive the Awakened and lead them to power.

You will spend the first part of the game gathering followers and looking for ingredients of the Crystal of Ultimate Knowledge. A lot of abandoned mines and sealed labs will feature prominently in your search. When all the ingredients are gathered, you will perform the Great Crafting Ritual. Unfortunately, an ill-timed attack by Shaper troops will disrupt the ritual and cause a demon to be summoned instead. After defeating both the demon and the Shaper attack force, you’ll try to use the partially completed crystal, but you’ll get only partial information on how to create Geneforge.

The next part of the game will be spent looking for instructions and ingredients necessary to create the Geneforge. During this time you’ll travel through lands more and more ruined by the fighting and teeming with progressively more powerful enemies, so that by the endgame every swamp path will be patrolled by groups of half a dozen Ur-Drakons and Eye-Beasts, or Shaper generals and arch-mages.

Finally, you’ll be able to re-create Geneforge and use it to attain godlike power. At this point it would still be possible for Shapers and Rebels to stop you if they’d join their forces, but they continue to fight each other, allowing you to grow an army of super-powerful creations. With this unstoppable army you easily slay Ghaldring and crush the Shaper Council.

This is what happens when you let people check all 8 checkboxes. :P

--------------------
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
Mods of yesteryear in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Friday, July 21 2006 15:10 Profile Homepage #3
If I remember correctly, the two lists above cover almost everybody who had been a mod, but isn't one currently: Since Thuryl is no longer a mod, he should be listed as former mod of General.

Double-checking with web.archive.org:

Scorpius: General, ET, SubTerra
Ed Lemur: Tech Support, Galactic Core
Lighting Exiled: Misc, ET
Minstrel: Misc, Geneforge
MM: Misc, SubTerra
TM: Misc, A2, Gf, Nethergate, GC
Turtle Whipper: A3
tie-my-shoe: Gf
Zeviz: A3, SubTerra, Nethergate, A2?
Drezin: ET
Lady J: Misc, ET (after Misc was removed)
Fallen: Avernum, A2

Other archived copies don't have lists of mods on front page, so it's harder to find out remaining game board mods.

[ Friday, July 21, 2006 15:14: 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
Miscellaneous PPP questions in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Friday, July 21 2006 11:56 Profile Homepage #26
quote:
Originally written by Drow:

Here's a secret: There are actually thousands of posts (PPP2) missing from the non-General forums that weren't yet added to the archives. I have them saved in a format that'll take many weeks to sort and convert, so I've kept putting it off for the last year or more.
...
What format are these posts in?

--------------------
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
Code of Community in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Friday, July 21 2006 11:53 Profile Homepage #58
#99 Every general observation has penty of specific exceptions. For example, all absolute statements are false.

#100 Unlike Alorael, I don't mind fulfilling my own predictions. :)

--------------------
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
Geneforge series board traffic: no long tail? in Geneforge Series
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Friday, July 21 2006 11:33 Profile Homepage #7
One reason for relative lack of activity now is that, with the availability of detailed walkthroughs, there are much fewer people asking questions about gameplay. So most discussion centers around strategies and phylosophycal question, and there is only so much you can talk about those things before exhausting the topics. A4 came out more recently, so there are still more things to discuss about it.

PS Talking about long tails, my A2 page is still getting several visitors per day, and Nethergate page is getting several visitors per week, so there are still people playing even older Spidweb games.

[ Friday, July 21, 2006 11:34: 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
Exile/Avernum tabletop RPG? in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Wednesday, July 19 2006 08:34 Profile Homepage #7
This idea sounds like it might work in a forum-based free style RP. If you really want to see this happen, you could go to one of the forums with RP section, like Polaris (www.polarisboard.net) and check if there is interest there. (Although you'd need much better defined story and characters than just saying "interact with the Exile world".)

--------------------
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! It's still the seventeenth! in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Wednesday, July 19 2006 08:22 Profile Homepage #24
Happy Birthday Aran.
It might still be the 18th somewhere, so this greeting isn't late. :P

--------------------
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
Code of Community in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Wednesday, July 19 2006 07:51 Profile Homepage #36
#55 Any 10 rules list is likely to grow to at least 100 entries.

--------------------
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
Israel - Lebanon conflict in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Friday, July 14 2006 12:42 Profile Homepage #58
My post wasn't a joke.

The same sources from which your "proofs" originated also have "proofs" that Israelis use special chemicals to make Palestinian girls promiscuous and "proofs" that Israel poisons water in Gaza strip.

Let's take the most blatant example from the BS you've been posting:
quote:
WHICH ISRAEL CERTANLY IS DOING EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE - LIKE WHEN PALESTINIAN CHILDREN ATTACK THE TANKS WITH MERE ROCKS AND THAT TANK SLAUGHTERS THEM ALL WITH IT'S CANNON
Do you know how many people a tank canon could kill in a crowd? If a single Israeli tank ever started shooting up Palestinian crowds with its canon, there'd be hundreds of dead Palestinians that day. If Israel really decided to use its tanks to "slaughter Palestinian children", it could kill more people in a day than died on both sides in 5 years of fighting. Even if Israel just took an example from Egypt and ordered its troops to open fire on Palestinian demonstrators, they could kill over a thousand people in a single day. (Which is what Egypt did in 60s (I don't remember exact date) when Palestinians tried to protest against conditions in refugee camps.)

[ Friday, July 14, 2006 12:54: 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
The Signature of Your Dreams in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Friday, July 14 2006 11:57 Profile Homepage #21
quote:
Originally written by MagmaDragoon:

quote:
Originally written by Archmage Alex:

:P Fixed.
If is fixed, why I don't see the edit's log? :confused:
...
He fixed the picture itself. (You probably have to hit "Refresh" button on your browser to get the new version.)

As for my signature, I'd have a blank one. Or the same one I have now. Perhaps I would draw something similar to everybody else's sigs, but I've only done that on one RP forum where everybody had their character's picture in their sig.

--------------------
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
Miscellaneous PPP questions in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Friday, July 14 2006 11:48 Profile Homepage #18
quote:
Originally written by Drow:

...
Incidentally, the program that makes this print version parses the page so thoroughly that it might just as well feed into a database. The only problem, of course, is the space. I have over 1 GB free, but my host will give me only 200 MB in database space... :rolleyes:
You could put just meta-data into the DB, so you could enable searches based on things like thread participants and dates.

quote:
Originally written by Rufus Rothgard:

Do people actually read the archives?
I read it about as often as waybackmachine's archives: once in a few months when I am very bored. I think one of the main points is that this is a fun programming exersize for Aran.

[ Friday, July 14, 2006 11:51: 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
Israel - Lebanon conflict in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Friday, July 14 2006 11:44 Profile Homepage #56
quote:
Originally written by Anarhiztok:

...
And not to mention Israel commiting holocaust against Palestinian children and women (who they raped and dehumanised first) in refugee camps.
But NOOOOOO! the Israelis are GOOD!
I mean, how could the world's oppinion of such a horrible thing change all the way in just 60 years.
It's a phoenomenon:

HOLOCAUST: FROM TOTAL DISGRACE TO A HEAVENLY ACT OF GOOD!!!
...
You've forgotten the main one: after killing all those children, they take their blood, mix it with flour, and make matza bread out of it. And they also drink the blood of Palestinian children during their rituals at Passover.

--------------------
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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