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Blades of Geneforge in Geneforge 4: Rebellion
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
Profile Homepage #2
Because neither the mechanics nor the setting of Geneforge lend themselves well to a scenario-based engine, and because Blades of Avernum took a huge amount of effort on Spiderweb's part without leading to a commensurate return.

More practically, Spidweb has stated very clearly that there will be no Blades of Geneforge. (And no Geneforge MMORPG either, while we're at it.)

I am increasingly tempted to put this in the forum header.

Advance warning, because threads about BoG usually go bad: please don't spam the topic with whining, complaining, and/or insults.

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Slarty vs. DeskDesk vs. SlartyTimeline of ErmarianG4 Strategy Central
"Slartucker is going to have a cow when he hears about this," Synergy said.
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
A Fun Little Project of Mine in Geneforge 4: Rebellion
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
Profile Homepage #14
Actually, I'm surprised it's taken... what, seven years? for the first such pun.

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Slarty vs. DeskDesk vs. SlartyTimeline of ErmarianG4 Strategy Central
"Slartucker is going to have a cow when he hears about this," Synergy said.
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
AAAAAAAH!!! in General
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
Profile Homepage #95
It's worth pointing out that while there is a certain amount of consistency from one graduate program to the next in terms of type and quantity of work, college programs, and individual college experiences, differ wildly. Many people slack off to greater or lesser degrees in college, and that includes a good portion of future grad students. It may not be possible to do that if you are getting a chemistry major, but many college-level courses of study are more forgiving with your time.

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Slarty vs. DeskDesk vs. SlartyTimeline of ErmarianG4 Strategy Central
"Slartucker is going to have a cow when he hears about this," Synergy said.
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Eye in the Sky in General
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
Profile Homepage #6
Faculty could refer to a building. Although it typically refers to a set of teachers, it can also be used to refer to a grouping of disciplines within a university: for example, the Faculty of Social Sciences or the Faculty of Biological Sciences. If said grouping was a smaller one, as is often the case with biology divisions, it could conceivably be housed in one building and it would seem reasonable to call that building the faculty of biology building.

At any rate, "Faculty of Biology" sounds a lot more plausible to me than "Facility of Biology" -- I doubt any native speaker would produce that last phrasing.

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Slarty vs. DeskDesk vs. SlartyTimeline of ErmarianG4 Strategy Central
"Slartucker is going to have a cow when he hears about this," Synergy said.
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Vahnatai are shapers? in Geneforge 4: Rebellion
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
Profile Homepage #7
The Nine-Headed Cave Cow frowns upon this topic.

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Slarty vs. DeskDesk vs. SlartyTimeline of ErmarianG4 Strategy Central
"Slartucker is going to have a cow when he hears about this," Synergy said.
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Tactics - What Works For You? in Avernum 4
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
Profile Homepage #16
Here's my old Magical Efficiency workup. It is possible to very occasionally spend no SP on a Minor Heal even with 5 or 6 ME. Most of the time, though, you won't see any SP reduction whatsoever.

Anyway, I fail to see the amazingness of this. If I'm doing the math right, at level 15 you'd have +2 ME from NM and +4 ME from PS; at level 30, +4 from NM and +7 from PS. That's a score of 6 ME at level 15, or 11 ME at level 30, for SP savings of about 10% and 20% respectively. Better than nothing, but again, insignificant compared to First Aid or 2 points of Int.

The slith resistance bonus definitely isn't 30%. It might be 20%, but I thought it was 10% in A4 and got bumped up to 20% in A5. I remember being surprised when I saw how worthless it was. Could be wrong though.

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Slarty vs. DeskDesk vs. SlartyTimeline of ErmarianG4 Strategy Central
"Slartucker is going to have a cow when he hears about this," Synergy said.
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Tactics - What Works For You? in Avernum 4
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
Profile Homepage #14
quote:
Originally written by Grindstone:

I've always found hardiness more useful/interesting on a Slith than defense, mostly because you can make him almost immune to fire damage.
Hardiness is quite good, but Sliths only get a minor bonus to fire resistance (IIRC, it's 10%) and the resistance cap of 90% applies to both, so that's not really any different.

quote:
Since both NM and PS boost your Magical Efficiency, you almost never run out of spell points,
You're vastly overestimating ME. First Aid is what's keeping you from running out of spell points; it's completely disgusting in A4. Even with 20 ME you conserve something like 25% of spent SP on average -- and 20 ME requires investing a buttload of skill points that would be better used elsewhere. With 5 or 10, the bonus is barely noticeable. It doesn't hurt, but compared to First Aid or even pumping Int the effects are negligible.

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Slarty vs. DeskDesk vs. SlartyTimeline of ErmarianG4 Strategy Central
"Slartucker is going to have a cow when he hears about this," Synergy said.
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Why did the Avernites not teleport outoff Avernum? in The Avernum Trilogy
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
Profile Homepage #5
Five brooches.

And about half the population of Exile went aboveground, according to A4.

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Slarty vs. DeskDesk vs. SlartyTimeline of ErmarianG4 Strategy Central
"Slartucker is going to have a cow when he hears about this," Synergy said.
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
AAAAAAAH!!! in General
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
Profile Homepage #65
Proms are absurd. But then, so is high school. And so is college.

The freshman year mailings are probably aimed at students thinking about transferring. But since they have no idea who those are, they just spam everyone on their lists.

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Slarty vs. DeskDesk vs. SlartyTimeline of ErmarianG4 Strategy Central
"Slartucker is going to have a cow when he hears about this," Synergy said.
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Analysis of Scenario Ratings in Blades of Avernum
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
Profile Homepage #8
You're right about Angband. I went to look for examples and I found... not much. Most of the rating scales or systems I can find through a quick google search that use bad or poor, do not use both. This is accomplished in various ways -- having only one negative rating, having a more clearly horrendous word for the worse option, "very bad", etc.

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Slarty vs. DeskDesk vs. SlartyTimeline of ErmarianG4 Strategy Central
"Slartucker is going to have a cow when he hears about this," Synergy said.
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Analysis of Scenario Ratings in Blades of Avernum
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
Profile Homepage #6
ASR isn't controversial though.

Great chart. One comment: isn't 'poor' typically a worse gradation than 'bad'? I always remember excellent, good, fair, bad, poor from school (and Angband pseudo-ID).

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Slarty vs. DeskDesk vs. SlartyTimeline of ErmarianG4 Strategy Central
"Slartucker is going to have a cow when he hears about this," Synergy said.
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Poll of the Executive Branch in General
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
Profile Homepage #17
Appointing justices is nothing new. Everybody does it. Fusses over "bad" appointments is nothing new, either. Clinton didn't have that issue with his justices, but he sure did with some of his cabinet members.

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Slarty vs. DeskDesk vs. SlartyTimeline of ErmarianG4 Strategy Central
"Slartucker is going to have a cow when he hears about this," Synergy said.
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Poll of the Executive Branch in General
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
Profile Homepage #15
Bush's image has been carefully cultivated by Rove and other neocon advisors since he first appeared as a prospective presidential candidate. There was an effort to dumb down Bush to make him more of a "common person" (there's some irony here!) and easier to relate to for the vast majority of Americans (remember, people are idiots).

I think this was pursued even more aggressively in light of his opponents. Al Gore in 2000 was often criticized for appearing "robotic", torpid, unemotional. Kerry in 2004 had an accent and manner of speaking that came off as elitist, and an "heiress" wife that completed the package.

That said, there are still some moments that really baffle me. The one that stands out for me was during the televised memorial services the afternoon of September 11, 2001. (Or maybe it was the day after; I don't remember.) At one point when the camera was on Bush, he turned away from the service, waved at the camera, and then winked.

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Slarty vs. DeskDesk vs. SlartyTimeline of ErmarianG4 Strategy Central
"Slartucker is going to have a cow when he hears about this," Synergy said.
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Poll of the Executive Branch in General
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
Profile Homepage #11
Well, of course. People are idiots.
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Getting political in General
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
Profile Homepage #115
quote:
Originally written by Student of Trinity:

The elephant in the middle of the room, which the media managed to avoid mentioning throughout the 2000 fiasco, is the fact that membership in the electoral college is hereditary, being held by lineal descendents of George Washington's Freemason lodge.
Is this true? I haven't encountered this elephant before, and I can't find it anywhere in the wikipedia article on the US electoral college. I thought electors were appointed by winning parties on a per-election basis.

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Slarty vs. DeskDesk vs. SlartyTimeline of ErmarianG4 Strategy Central
"Slartucker is going to have a cow when he hears about this," Synergy said.
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Getting political in General
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
Profile Homepage #97
I think it also matters what the candidates do. Bitterly opposed candidates are less likely to have supporters who will back the other candidate. Obama and Hillary have both made big displays of their (apparent) friendship and mutual support, so it doesn't seem a stretch for voters to prefer one, but support either.

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Slarty vs. DeskDesk vs. SlartyTimeline of ErmarianG4 Strategy Central
"Slartucker is going to have a cow when he hears about this," Synergy said.
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Genefroge 1 in Geneforge Series
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
Profile Homepage #4
Xel, one of the main reasons this forum is here is so that new players can ask questions about the game.

Try to be a little friendlier, eh?

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Slarty vs. DeskDesk vs. SlartyTimeline of ErmarianG4 Strategy Central
"Slartucker is going to have a cow when he hears about this," Synergy said.
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Spiderweb Demographics 2008 in General
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
Profile Homepage #139
The other gender identification could refer to somebody who is biologically intersex, to a 'traditional' MTF or FTM transgendered person, or simply to somebody who finds themself unable to identify with either option in a binary gender system -- among other possibilities.

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Slarty vs. DeskDesk vs. SlartyTimeline of ErmarianG4 Strategy Central
"Slartucker is going to have a cow when he hears about this," Synergy said.
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Spiderweb Demographics 2008 in General
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
Profile Homepage #136
Would you mind moving the angry political debate to another thread, please? This poll, with 88 votes and counting, does not deserve to get locked due to a debate that gets out of hand, which is where this one seems to be headed.

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Slarty vs. DeskDesk vs. SlartyTimeline of ErmarianG4 Strategy Central
"Slartucker is going to have a cow when he hears about this," Synergy said.
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Deathmatch Tournament -- Round Two, Part One in General
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
Profile Homepage #174
I have the pairings, now I need to find the last 8 trading cards. I'll send them to you tomorrow, hopefully, Jewels.

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Slarty vs. DeskDesk vs. SlartyTimeline of ErmarianG4 Strategy Central
"Slartucker is going to have a cow when he hears about this," Synergy said.
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Episode 4: Spiderweb Reloaded. Something like that anyway. in General
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
Profile Homepage #667
It's the economy, stupid.

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Slarty vs. DeskDesk vs. SlartyTimeline of ErmarianG4 Strategy Central
"Slartucker is going to have a cow when he hears about this," Synergy said.
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Deathmatch Tournament -- Round Two, Part One in General
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
Profile Homepage #164
Yes, fair enough.

I had a few intended outcomes in mind, but I don't think it's fair for me to thrust those upon you if I really am en-trust-ing you with the judging.

I do have the remaining 8 or so cards that I haven't published yet, which I will email to you in some form. I also have the pairings for round 2 part 2, which I will email to you, and some potential suggestions for round 3 pairings. (Of course they aren't random. They're as interesting and theatrical as possible.)

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Slarty vs. DeskDesk vs. SlartyTimeline of ErmarianG4 Strategy Central
"Slartucker is going to have a cow when he hears about this," Synergy said.
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Put the stats of you and your creations on this. No fakes.To see who is best in Geneforge 4: Rebellion
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
Profile Homepage #4
Shaper Markis, I'm sorry the topic got derailed. But it wasn't likely to bear fruit, anyway. You could certainly make a new topic and post your own character & creations, though.

Time to lock the topic before Thuryl finds a new way to min-max his statistics...

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Slarty vs. DeskDesk vs. SlartyTimeline of ErmarianG4 Strategy Central
"Slartucker is going to have a cow when he hears about this," Synergy said.
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Geneforge wiki? in Geneforge Series
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
Profile Homepage #73
Dikiyoba and I also need to work on the Main Page, the Help pages, and so on. But that stuff can wait. What we probably should get done before article writing commences is:

1) Formalize the scope policy: what can go in SA? We seem to have a pretty good consensus with the version I threshed out earlier in this thread, but it needs to be written up more clearly.

2) Write up a style policy. Important parts to get done before we start on articles:

* 2a) Naming conventions for articles. EE should provide a good model here but some changes may make sense. I'd like to use singular rather than plural for countable generics such as races, to simplify markup links.

* 2b) What is significant enough to warrant an article? As Goldenking's post implies make an article for every zone would be confusing and not useful, but obviously some zones deserve articles. We aren't Supreme Court judges so this is easier than defining "pornography", but it needs to be defined.

* 2c) List standard article sections (such as those related to #1)

* 2d) Neutral Point of View, Encyclopedia Tone and Style, etc.

3) Because there are so many entries where our last canonical information is years out of date and has probably all changed -- pretty much anything that was in G1-3, but not G4 -- we should specify how this will be discussed. Probably we should just give the information we have available and not comment on possibilities beyond that, to avoid having a trite and uninteresting fortune telling section in every article. Either way, we should formalize this too.

4) Have a working draft of a category system. I've borrowed from EE on my list, and I think that will be enough to get us off the ground.

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Slarty vs. DeskDesk vs. SlartyTimeline of ErmarianG4 Strategy Central
"Slartucker is going to have a cow when he hears about this," Synergy said.
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00

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