Profile for Student of Trinity
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Displayed name | Student of Trinity |
| Member number | 3431 |
| Title | Electric Sheep One |
| Postcount | 3335 |
| Homepage | |
| Registered | Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
Recent posts
Pages
| Author | Recent posts |
|---|---|
| Whee in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Wednesday, June 1 2005 06:26
Profile
But it might possibly contain anything. A finite universe might also contain anything, though, except things that were too big to fit. -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| RWG in Richard White Games | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Wednesday, June 1 2005 06:10
Profile
My intent was to imply that Jeff's games do not suck. I didn't think about them blowing. I guess I should edit what I wrote, but, aah, helicoid it. My understanding of punctuation and quotation is that we're supposed to put punctuation inside quotes to make it look nicer printed, but that it is sometimes right to keep the punctuation out, if whether or not the punctuation is part of the quotation is actually important. E.g. Did I just hear you say "hello"? I'm probably wrong about this, but I'd even be inclined to write Did I just hear you say "Hello?"? [ Wednesday, June 01, 2005 06:18: Message edited by: Student of Trinity ] -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Who are you? and What's your IQ? in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Wednesday, June 1 2005 04:26
Profile
Here is how smart I am. Once I was making Campbell's soup, according to the well known algorithm printed on the can. And as everyone does, I was having a hard time getting the solid goop to slide out of the can into the pot. But here is where uncommon genius, and post-graduate education in physics, sets one apart. I realized that it was the unopposed atmospheric pressure on the open end of the can that was holding the goop inside. So, in a flash of inspiration, I used a can opener to punch a hole in the bottom of the can. A triumph of science: the soup-cylinder immediately slid smoothly into the pot. Flushed with success, I continued making my soup. In order to add one can of milk, I filled the can with milk. Oops. -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Ideal Shaper Build? in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Wednesday, June 1 2005 04:17
Profile
Yeah, most people agree specialization is the way to go. This means people usually choose either Fire or Magic Shaping, and the poor old Battle creations get left out. Most people think they're just not as good, though there are some Clawbug fans. I prefer Magic, because I like attacking from range and I find Artilas and Vlish very effective. Vlish especially are clearly the best tier-two creation. Fire is good because you have both ranged and melee at every tier, but the creatures tend to cost more in Essence. As to gear, the list of decent choices is very long, but the principles are pretty obvious. For a classic 'zookeeper' Shaper, it's everything for the creations, and your own needs don't count. First of all get gear that raises your Intelligence. Next in priority, wear stuff that buffs up your creations, even if it drags all your own stats down to zero. Apart from collecting all the crystals you possibly can, and maybe raising your Dex or Missile Weapons a couple of points to keep them reasonably effective, forget completely about your own offense. You can throw in the odd spell or baton or crystal attack to finish off wounded enemies, but your main offense must be from your creations. One point to note is that you only need to wear stuff that raises Shaping Skills at the actual moment you are creating something. Leave it in town, dress up to make a new critter, then dump it and put on other stuff for actual operations. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Are You Stupid? in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Tuesday, May 31 2005 12:37
Profile
Here I was trying to draft a twee but innocent reply about sexual preferences among tests, and I just could not seem to get rid of all the double entendres. Once you start looking for them, of course, they're everywhere. Curse you, Sigmund Freud, curse you. -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| RWG in Richard White Games | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Tuesday, May 31 2005 12:06
Profile
I humbly beg forgiveness of the RWG thread for introducing the first mention of 'guano'. In penance I raise the following RWG-related question. Consider the two cases of tiny start-up shareware game companies, Richard White's Chromite Software, and Jeff Vogel's Spiderweb Software. The name of Richard White is a scorn and a hissing, while it is Jeff Vogel who provides the electronic glory in whose radiance we all bask. Just how and why did their two paths diverge? Let me provide the most basic response immediately, to the effect that Jeff's games all have positive pressure, whereas the same cannot be said in Richard's case. But can we not delve deeper than this, and identify any basic strategies that may have contributed to this pressure disparity? -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Ideal Shaper Build? in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Tuesday, May 31 2005 11:51
Profile
For Agents, even Greta is strictly for companionship. You're an army of one. I find the same for Guardians, though other people somehow manage to play Guardians well with a few creations. But with a Shaper, the whole point is to make a little monster army! Doing that is one of the main distinctive things about the Geneforge games! I say, if you want to play with a single creation, play a Guardian. If you're a Shaper, make the best army you can (even if that sometimes does mean just a couple of tough beasties). And if that makes the game too easy, crank up the difficulty level. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| trying to tweak the ending (spoilers) in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Tuesday, May 31 2005 11:45
Profile
SPOILERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . There are some non-finishing endings, like your death, or what you get if you just leave the Drypeak mountains as soon as you possibly can. In addition to the Loyalist ending, there is a non-aligned ending where you kill Barzahl and the top Takers, and destroy the Geneforge, without joining any sects. The non-aligned ending is not actually much different from the Loyalist ending, though. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| trying to tweak the ending (spoilers) in Geneforge 2 | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
|
written Tuesday, May 31 2005 11:45
Profile
SPOILERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . There are some non-finishing endings, like your death, or what you get if you just leave the Drypeak mountains as soon as you possibly can. In addition to the Loyalist ending, there is a non-aligned ending where you kill Barzahl and the top Takers, and destroy the Geneforge, without joining any sects. The non-aligned ending is not actually much different from the Loyalist ending, though. -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Who are you? and What's your IQ? in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Tuesday, May 31 2005 10:01
Profile
I've never heard that Einstein ever took an actual IQ test. Some psychometrists have tried to estimate the IQs of famous dead people. These estimates have generally been incredibly bogus. Fortunately for us all, while Alorael is staring mournfully at his keyboard full of nines and sevens, his cats type all his posts. Somewhere, an infinite number of monkeys is feeling inadequate. [ Tuesday, May 31, 2005 10:11: Message edited by: Student of Trinity ] -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| XP and Creations. in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Tuesday, May 31 2005 08:24
Profile
Dunno the exact figure, but it really isn't a big deal. Good creations survive fine and fight very well, and the couple of levels of experience you'll miss by the end of the game represent much less of a sacrifice in total power than you would be making by foregoing the extra creations. More creations is actually nonlinearly better, in a sense, because it multiplies the effect of group spells without changing their energy and essence costs. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Ideal Shaper Build? in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Tuesday, May 31 2005 08:20
Profile
The Searing Artila and Cryoa are probably well out of their depth on Gull. I'd say absorb them. You might want to evolve the Vlish a few points up. My Shaper used four or five creations plus Greta most of the time. That was on Torment, but I don't see any real reason to suffer along with just one on Normal just because you can. The XP penalty is quite small, and the loss of power that results is amply made up for by the extra thingpower. So I'd get some more creations. Glaahks work well in pairs, and the more Vlish the better -- though you should probably be trading them in for Drayks by now. For me, Vlish start to fade well before you can get Gazers, and Glaahks don't have ranged attacks, so Drayks need to fill in for a while around your stage of the game. If you need more essence, invest in more intelligence. Then just use Mass Energize all the time and you should be fine. [ Tuesday, May 31, 2005 09:18: Message edited by: Student of Trinity ] -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Who are you? and What's your IQ? in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
|
written Tuesday, May 31 2005 06:38
Profile
I am trying to limit my tendency to spend more time on these boards than I can afford, by not identifying myself. I find it makes it easier to just let things drop, to be able to remember that no-one really knows who I am when I abandon a discussion. At least it helps enough that I'm going to stick with this strategy for now. Whether it helps enough to solve the problem is not clear. IQ does seem to be rather a crock. There is the mysterious Flynn Effect, whereby scores around the world are steadily rising at an alarming rate (when younger people are given older tests, rather than contemporary tests that have been rescaled in an effort to keep the mean IQ at 100). If IQ really measured intelligence, the world of our grandparents must have been filled with morons; but this seems unlikely. And there is my own anecdotal experience that Mensa gatherings compare very poorly, for intellectual interest, with grad student pubs or even officers' messes. The self-selection effect is a big problem, of course. IQ tests clearly measure something. People who scores dramatically above the mean are, sure enough, unusually quick at certain kinds of thinking. This is just a lot less significant than some would have us believe. At the extreme end, this can be tragic. The swiftest person I've ever met is a Nobel laureate in physics, but his intellectual powers are so anomalous, that for him that is rather a low bar. He must have been shooting for a legendary breakthrough on the scale of Einstein. And it has galled him bitterly for most of his life, or so it certainly seems, that his actual accomplishments have not even quite reached the level of a Feynman. And I'm not sure this has just been bad luck (though perhaps it could have been). After hearing this guy speak a few times, I formed a theory about his tragedy: that he is as smart as ten ordinary top-tier physicists. The problem is that this is not the same, and not nearly as useful, as being one extraordinary thinker. -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| trying to tweak the ending (spoilers) in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Tuesday, May 31 2005 06:08
Profile
Or, find anyone who will still talk to you, and talk up serviles' rights like crazy. But if you've already done everything, there may be few such people. In which case, if you really just want to see a different ending, and not see how the whole game changes if you are loyal to the Awakened throughout: hit control-D and type 'iloveserviles'. The serviles will then be satisfied with your ideological purity. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| trying to tweak the ending (spoilers) in Geneforge 2 | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
|
written Tuesday, May 31 2005 06:08
Profile
Or, find anyone who will still talk to you, and talk up serviles' rights like crazy. But if you've already done everything, there may be few such people. In which case, if you really just want to see a different ending, and not see how the whole game changes if you are loyal to the Awakened throughout: hit control-D and type 'iloveserviles'. The serviles will then be satisfied with your ideological purity. -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Ideal Shaper Build? in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Tuesday, May 31 2005 06:04
Profile
What's your difficulty level? What creations do you have? -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Alwan is a disgrace in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Tuesday, May 31 2005 04:13
Profile
Could be an issue of difficulty level. On Torment, my high Parry, good armor, and life-stealing sword let me go toe-to-toe with squads of bad guys without getting more hurt than I can handle with the occasional pod. Alwan lacks these advantages, so the massive damages that get dealt out on Torment wear him down really fast. And his own attacks, while decent enough, never take his enemies down before they land a hit or two on him. (And my incarnation of Alwan is pretty much maxed: all abilities maxed out, and he has come all the way to Icy End, mostly with just me for company, so his level is about as high as it can get.) For ordinary little battles, I could either leave him out until the end, or retire him around a corner after the first round, then heal him up. But for major engagements where the enemies kept coming, I couldn't keep healing him fast enough and survive myself, and there was nowhere for him to hide. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Who are you? and What's your IQ? in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Monday, May 30 2005 20:02
Profile
Just remember: It's not the size of your intellect that matters; it's what you do with it. -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Alwan is a disgrace in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Monday, May 30 2005 19:01
Profile
Yeah, but I was in denial. I kept hoping Alwan's inadequacy in a ranged game would be less trouble for melee Guardian. And he actually was able to close with the enemy alongside me, and get in a swat or two. He just couldn't take more than a couple of hits, on Torment, despite his hundreds of Health, and generous rations from me of Armor Potions and Augmentations. A ranged attack would make him too hard to distinguish from Greta in behavior, for my taste. But he really needs some better armor. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Skien of Wisdom in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Monday, May 30 2005 18:56
Profile
Geneforge XI: "Destroy all Geneforges" Every type of creation is holed up in its own mountain lab complex, building its own geneforge. Will the Ur-Vlish defeat the Arch-Drakons and emerge to rule the world? Not if you can help it. You begin the game as a spore, but if you succeed in using all nine geneforges, you will earn a slightly longer interview with the Shaper Council. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Where is third Purified Essence? in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Monday, May 30 2005 17:40
Profile
I have found only two Purified Essences -- one in the Darkstone Core, and one in the Monastery Caves. Several people have posted that they have found three. Where in the Ashen Isles is the third one, people? -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Alwan is a disgrace in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Monday, May 30 2005 12:09
Profile
That's it, I've had it with this wretched wanna-be Guardian. I've tried really hard to like him. I've carried him on my back through all these zones of havoc, paid for his training and his equipment, and buffed him constantly with magic. He has over four hundred health points. But can he hold on to them? No, he cannot. A strong breeze practically wipes him out. He talks big, and he does hit okay (after all I've done for him); but he simply can't take the heat. He ran off in the middle of battle in Icy End, crying about how badly wounded he was, leaving me to take all those Drayks and Glaahks and Rotghroths all by myself. Which I did. And I am not going all the way back to the reeking Bulwark Inn now, just to have the pleasure of nursing him through the next little tussle. Greta was different. Greta was cool. Greta was worth taking care of, because she could usually take care of herself. Alwan is a toad. Any disagreements? Poll Information This poll contains 1 question(s). 47 user(s) have voted. You may not view the results of this poll without voting. function launch_voter () { launch_window("http://www.ironycentral.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=poll;d=vote;pollid=trUaqyaaiOQi"); return true; } // end launch_voter function launch_viewer () { launch_window("http://www.ironycentral.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=poll;d=view;pollid=trUaqyaaiOQi"); return true; } // end launch_viewer function launch_window (url) { preview = window.open( url, "preview", "width=550,height=300,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status,menubar=no,scrollbars,resizable,copyhistory=no" ); window.preview.focus(); return preview; } // end launch_window   -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Are You Stupid? in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Monday, May 30 2005 11:33
Profile
Having just gotten through trying to explain General Relativity to non-physics-majors for money, I am happy to be left out of this challenge. It would be so nice to have a senior year class of physics majors who would be interested in doing it right, and actually understanding the subject, rather than just absorbing some half-assed caricature. Of course most of what I think I know is also a half-assed caricature of some sort. That's the nature of knowledge. But it's just so very hard to figure out how to make the best possible caricatures, and right now I'm tired of the effort. Purism can be such a relief. -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Battle Creations in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Monday, May 30 2005 07:15
Profile
Alwan and I did surprisingly well, by gradually retreating into the dead end near the locked door. The narrow passage let us avoid being swarmed, and I found Swarm crystals surprisingly effective against those specter things. Alwan did get blown away at the end, but then I was able to take Krya and his sustained shade things solo (by using some speed pods, luring the two shades into one-on-one battles, and by shooting Krya with thorns of some kind and running after each shot). It was a tough fight, all right, but it worked out okay. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Music in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Friday, May 27 2005 09:41
Profile
The absolute degree of annoyance to me (if such a concept is even viable) is not the point; it's the pain relative to the gain. If it would save someone else's life, or even have a decent chance of doing so, I'd give away a lobe of my liver. But it is not right that many should have to endure even the slight annoyance of having to blink and skip on in our reading, to no better end than allowing a few people to indulge themselves in a slight pleasure. Furthermore, the code of conduct leads most of us to believe that the only obscenity we will have to put up with will be the few odd posts of promptly banned offenders. Of course that misrepresentation issue is not an argument for people whose posting habits I'd like to change; it's a matter for the moderators and administrators, who should either enforce the code of conduct more strictly, or change it to represent accurately the conduct that will be accepted. -------------------- It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |