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
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| Author | Recent posts |
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| Use A Debate Tactic Against Itself in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Monday, June 19 2006 07:16
Profile
I hate it when people try to change their arguments retroactively without admitting the mistake. [ Monday, June 19, 2006 07:19: Message edited by: Student of Trinity ] -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Montauk Project in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Friday, June 16 2006 21:09
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As Maimonides might say, stealth technology does not use negative refractive index. It just tries to absorb without reflecting, since it's the reflected signal that reveals your position on radar. Stealth is about being black, not about being clear. A less fanciful optical breakthrough with military applications would just be making a smoke that blocks infra-red. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| New melee/archer options for A5 in Avernum 4 | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Friday, June 16 2006 12:24
Profile
Some move in this direction would seem good to me, but I wouldn't want to go so far as to give warriors just as big a palette of options as spellcasters. It's okay to have a somewhat simpler class to play. I'd rather have just a few options that play well, than a long list of exotic combat moves that are obviously just there to keep up with the spell-casting Joneses. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Inventions in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Friday, June 16 2006 12:09
Profile
Perhaps I'm just not understanding the donut diagram, but why would this generate power? -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Montauk Project in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Friday, June 16 2006 11:25
Profile
Making a black hole the diameter of a human hair would require squeezing into that tiny volume ... the US Navy. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Inventions in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Friday, June 16 2006 11:18
Profile
quote:You're right, about the last part. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Inventions in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Thursday, June 15 2006 12:46
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quote:Sounds interesting. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| The pinnacle of perfection? in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Thursday, June 15 2006 11:12
Profile
Three words: Shaper haute couture. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Inventions in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Thursday, June 15 2006 11:01
Profile
Well, there are numerous ways to extract usable energy from gravity. You can drop a rock. Getting the rock back up so you can drop it again, now, that's a problem. Exotic proposals like spinning down rotating black holes are hardly feasible at the moment. In other words, yeah: you might be the millionth person to think of trying something like this, but it just won't work. I'd like to hear the laser idea. At what frequency will your laser operate? And why do you want to rename it, if it really is a laser? I mean, 'laser' is an acronym, not a trademark. [ Thursday, June 15, 2006 11:03: Message edited by: Student of Trinity ] -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Would you be interested in a sci fi RPG: THE POLL in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Thursday, June 15 2006 00:44
Profile
My knowledge of casualties over history is scattered and sketchy, but I think I know a few points. Infection was just deadly before the late 19th century, when Lister eventually convinced the medical profession that cleanliness was good. Battlefields are dirty and full of germs, and it was only with the advent of antibiotics in the 20th century that death by infection of wounds really came under control. Back when I was doing late 18th century military re-enactments, someone who seemed authoritative at the time told me that people usually recovered from non-fatal musketball wounds in the head or torso, but frequently died of infection from wounds to the limbs. I don't really know what evidence there is for this, and it might actually be sort of trivial, in that the only non-fatal head and torso wounds might all be rather mild. But the point was supposed to be that low-velocity musketballs do not have the deadly splash effect on the human body that high-velocity bullets do. Casualty rates in battles have varied a lot, depending on technology. Some ancient battles, like Cannae, had 100% death rates for the losing side, which was surrounded and slaughtered without any chance to surrender. 18th century battles tended to involve the exchange of a small number of short-range volleys, followed by a bayonet charge that would put one side to flight. Nobody charged until the opposing line was clearly faltering, and hand-to-hand fighting between lines of infantry was very rare, except in assaults on fortresses (where the defenders had nowhere to go). So actual casualty rates tended to be relatively low, with battles decided by morale; death from disease was generally much greater in the course of a campaign. Fleeing enemies were sometimes slaughtered by cavalry (particularly lancers, because infantry could get out of reach of sabres by lying down) or artillery, however. US civil war battles had higher casualty rates than Napoleonic battles, I understand, because the primary weapons were muzzle-loading rifles that could only be quickly loaded while standing, but were accurate and deadly out to several hundred metres. So whichever side ran away would be exposed to accurate unopposed fire for quite a long time. In other ways, though, civil war tactics do not seem to have differed all that much from the Napoleonic. The need to load standing, and the fact that the propellant used in cartridges still produced a big cloud of white smoke with every shot, meant that the "empty" modern battlefield, with everyone hiding and crawling, was still impossible. In the World Wars there were a few cases where unlucky units sustained enormous casualty rates, but in general a casualty rate of 10% (both killed and wounded) would be enough to make a unit ineffective. That 10% lost would come disproportionately from the leaders and the brave, and with the remainder all scattered in trenches and holes, everyone would just stop hearing commands to move or fire. Small groups of isolated frightened humans have a strong inhibition against doing anything that might draw attention, like moving or shooting. Trying to overcome this is a major part of modern infantry training. It is far less successful in doing so than is usually imagined; combat commanders even of elite veteran units will candidly admit that they can really only count on a tiny fraction of their troops reaching the objective. Finally, friendly fire is a huge, huge problem. Someone once told me of a US medical study which extracted and examined bullets that had remained lodged in the bodies of WWII veterans, either when the guys died or when the bullets worked their way out. And they turned out to all be American bullets. With everyone camouflaged, and everyone buzzed on adrenaline, it is very hard to recognize your friends. When light is poor, which is when a lot of battles happen, you can only see muzzle flashes; and it is very hard to tell from a muzzle flash whether the firer was shooting at you or away from you. Plus your friends are apt to be closer to you than the enemy, so your chances of meeting them are greater. This is why earlier armies all wore bright, distinctive uniforms; and even then there were many famous examples of friendly fire episodes. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| The pinnacle of perfection? in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Wednesday, June 14 2006 23:03
Profile
Maybe Shaper robes are super-durable, and repel scavengers. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| The pinnacle of perfection? in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Wednesday, June 14 2006 06:25
Profile
But Agents are good at hiding. And maybe at disguising themselves? Suddenly it hits me: Learned Darian is an Agent! -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Would you be interested in a sci fi RPG: THE POLL in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Tuesday, June 13 2006 21:46
Profile
At one time I thought a fair bit about how to make an SF RPG with deadly ranged weapon combat that wasn't just Russian roulette with blasters. Most of the mechanics were going to be about avoiding getting hit, not about suriving a laser shot. Modern infantry tactics depend on an initial phase of "winning the firefight", followed by "fire and movement". Winning the firefight means raising the lead content of the air right around the enemy high enough that they stop shooting at you in favor of lying low. (Actually killing them in this phase is a bonus you don't count on.) Fire and movement means having part of your team maintain that suppressing fire, to stop the enemy shooting back, while the other part moves forward a bit. You switch back and forth doing this until somebody on your side gets close enough to hit the enemy for sure with a grenade or a shot or whatever, or to take prisoners if they surrender. This really works, if you have enough more good shots on your side than are against you. Otherwise, time to call for artillery and try to skedaddle. In principle this could be made into a game, with basic realism not much affected by the artificial assumptions that nobody's lucky enough to get a long range kill, and that nobody's foolish enough to stand up in a hail of bullets to fire back without first crawling away a bit. It would be a battle of nerves and morale against target spotting and accuracy, which could all be represented with things like hit points. On the other hand, there is no reason to assume that future technology will maintain today's relative balance between armor and weapons (in which body armor only protects against shrapnel and low-powered bullets, not rifle fire or anything heavier). Maybe some tremendous advances in lightweight armor technology (never mind force fields even) could make future battlefields more like medieval ones, with guys taking 50 laser blasts to the chest and keepin' on truckin'. Why not? -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Geneforge 4--- being Really cool and stuff in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Tuesday, June 13 2006 21:23
Profile
Now I know how to kill Dikiyoba's Thing, too. STICKS TO STAKES! -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Geneforge 4--- being Really cool and stuff in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Tuesday, June 13 2006 13:51
Profile
quote:That would be nowhere near awesome. What if in Geneforge 4 the Drakons could really fly, and really breathe fire, and come flying right out of your computer screen to breathe real fire and grill some steaks for you, and totally bring down barbecuing as we know it? That, my friend, would be awesome. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Alwan and Greta questions in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Monday, June 12 2006 11:39
Profile
Ideally Alwan's thorns should upgrade, but one could simply do this by hand at the appropriate stages. Perhaps if his ranged attack remains relatively weak, it would make sense for his thorns to just spontaneously upgrade, maybe on reaching different islands. You tend to find lots of thorns and batons lying around, after all, and they gradually get better until eventually you are using spare Reaper Batons to light your smokes. It would be plausible that Alwan just picks some up. I do still wonder whether this will turn the trick for Alwan. Make his ranged attacks too good and he just becomes Greta, which makes him pointless. Short of that, will his alternatives really be any better than the choice between wimpy thorns or dying in melee? Experience will tell. Thanks to Major for giving us the opportunity to try this option out, instead of just whining about Alwan. I'm still slowly replaying G2, but maybe I'll go for this next. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| fan made graphics? in Avernum 4 | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Sunday, June 11 2006 23:39
Profile
Not having played A<4 I didn't realize worms and hellhounds were new. They seemed natural beasts for the place, to me. I'd like to see something like the good ol' Purple Worm from D&D. I think the A4 combat engine ought to be able to implement extreme hugeness very well, by giving resistance to practically everything except area attacks. Graphically it would be harder. Perhaps most of the monster could actually be terrain; the fact that it remained after the monster was killed could be quite reasonable. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Reputation system in BoA? in Blades of Avernum Editor | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Sunday, June 11 2006 23:29
Profile
One more kind of reputation might simply be degree of celebrity: how much common people seem to have heard of you, whether for good or ill or neither. Related to this, 'secrecy' could be another modifier like TM's 'cruelty'. Spectacular deeds in public might be known by everybody, but some people might be able to discover even deeds the player tried to conceal, so one might have violently contradictory reputations among peasants and police captains. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Reputation system in BoA? in Blades of Avernum | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Sunday, June 11 2006 23:29
Profile
One more kind of reputation might simply be degree of celebrity: how much common people seem to have heard of you, whether for good or ill or neither. Related to this, 'secrecy' could be another modifier like TM's 'cruelty'. Spectacular deeds in public might be known by everybody, but some people might be able to discover even deeds the player tried to conceal, so one might have violently contradictory reputations among peasants and police captains. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Viva Italia !!!!!!! in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Saturday, June 10 2006 02:13
Profile
I have a schedule with an unfortunate misprint in the quarter-final matchups, but my reading of it seems to show that groups A through D will only meet groups E through G in the final, and that it is possible for a team to meet the other one from its group again in the semi-final. Is this true? If so, it seems to make which group you are in really important. How does that get decided? -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Alwan and Greta questions in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Saturday, June 10 2006 02:04
Profile
Strength increases Greta's damage because underneath her drop-out Agent skin, she's really a creation, as far as the game mechanics are concerned. Alwan can eventually get a lot of hit points, but he never gets parry or raises his resistance with items. My game with him was as a melee Guardian without creations. I figured we'd be a good team, two of a kind; but he was constantly getting blown away by attacks that just singed me. At first he was still useful, but whenever he died, I would generally finish the zone alone. I guess this was a vicious circle, and his experience gain rate kept dropping as he started dying earlier and earlier in each zone, until eventually he was really no use at all. With a Shaper, or maybe even an Agent, Alwan might be okay. But I think Greta would be okay for anyone, because she can fight while staying out of harm's way. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Alwan and Greta questions in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Friday, June 9 2006 11:45
Profile
Up to a point; eventually, you can only keep one. They're both interesting characters, and I replayed to keep them both (in successive games) just to see what they said and what happened to them. Paying to upgrade their attacks, at the two opportunities you get in the game, is well worthwhile. Otherwise, on Torment at least, Greta pulls her weight, but Alwan is a bag of poo tied in the middle. He keeps dying, and dying, and dying (or rather, running away). It's hard to keep him alive enough to get enough experience to not die. Which came first, the slipping experience or the wimpiness, is an interesting question; either way, though, Alwan is a chicken. In fairness to Alwan, I believe this is just the usual problem that missiles are much easier than melee on Torment, because they let you avoid heavy melee damage from enemies. It is much easier to keep Greta out of range of enemies, but still useful. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Google and "More" in General | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Thursday, June 8 2006 12:23
Profile
Use the Force, Luke. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| ADV Shaping (Battle Gamma & Co.) in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Wednesday, June 7 2006 12:25
Profile
While we're dreaming, it would be cool if you could evolve your creations by giving them special attributes, like Spines or Poison or whatever, instead of just upping their basic stats. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
| Why Did the People Die????!!!! Why!!!!!! in Geneforge Series | |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Wednesday, June 7 2006 12:22
Profile
quote:Hear, hear. It's such a pain that if you've irritated a town, the shopkeepers will all quixotically charge you and your pack of Gazers with their bare hands. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |