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AuthorRecent posts
Simple screen size question in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl
...b10010b...
Member # 869
 written Friday, October 8 2004 00:52 Profile Homepage #1
Reduce your screen resolution.

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The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure!
Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
VoDT Healing device in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl
...b10010b...
Member # 869
 written Friday, October 8 2004 00:28 Profile Homepage #3
Nope. You have to rely on piercing crystals. Use them wisely.

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The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure!
Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Politics in Exile? in General
Thuryl
...b10010b...
Member # 869
 written Friday, October 8 2004 00:26 Profile Homepage #38
You don't have much choice if you're physically or mentally incapable of holding down a job.

quote:
There's also the fact that by forcing people to help others you take away the good feeling that it gives because now you're not helping people from your own good will but because you're required to which alleviates most if not all the good feel from helping people.
Nice theory, but 50 years of economic and psychological research undermines it. In fact, most people feel less resentment about losing money if they don't have any choice about doing so. The small proportion of people who actually enjoy giving to society of their own free will are likely to still do so in a socialist system, volunteering their time instead if they don't have any money to give away. (In more moderate forms of socialism, they'll simply give away even more money than they have to.)

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My BoE Page
Bandwagons are fun!
Roots
Hunted!
Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Ethics? in General
Thuryl
...b10010b...
Member # 869
 written Friday, October 8 2004 00:16 Profile Homepage #3
A moral system is really little more than a definition of the phrases "morally right" and "morally wrong", and the only arbiter of the truth or falsehood of a definition is community consensus. The etymological root of "moral" is, after all, the same as that of "moré" -- meaning a norm upheld by society.

Now here's the kicker; just because action X is morally right under the definition of a given community, this does not mean that you should do action X. "You should do what is morally right" isn't a tautology; it's meaningless. All valid "should" statements are conditional; "if you want to pass the exam, you should study" or "if you want to have good health, you should take vitamin supplements". (Note that a statement being valid doesn't necessarily make it true.) You can't say someone should do something without specifying what reason they have for doing so.

"If you want to do what's morally right in your community, you should not kill except in self-defence", for example, is a valid statement which can be assessed for truth or falsehood based on the definition widely held within the community of the person to whom it's said. "It is morally wrong to kill except in self-defence" is also valid, and is essentially equivalent to the previous statement. "You should not kill except in self-defence" is meaningless.

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My BoE Page
Bandwagons are fun!
Roots
Hunted!
Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
First time here..been around a long time.. in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl
...b10010b...
Member # 869
 written Thursday, October 7 2004 12:56 Profile Homepage #2
From A1 to A3, spells were changed around a little, and the system for calculating melee damage was changed around a lot.

Why 4 PCs? Well, you can get up to 2 NPCs in BoA, and 8 characters all walking in a line is a lot.

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The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure!
Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Geneforge Scenario Editor(BoG) in General
Thuryl
...b10010b...
Member # 869
 written Thursday, October 7 2004 12:52 Profile Homepage #14
I believe Drakey was a betatester. I doubt the editor was publicly released.

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My BoE Page
Bandwagons are fun!
Roots
Hunted!
Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Non-violent solutions in the Geneforge Series in General
Thuryl
...b10010b...
Member # 869
 written Thursday, October 7 2004 12:41 Profile Homepage #13
I dunno. Maybe because some people prefer finding better alternatives to mass murder?

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My BoE Page
Bandwagons are fun!
Roots
Hunted!
Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Diplomacy with the dead problems in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl
...b10010b...
Member # 869
 written Thursday, October 7 2004 00:50 Profile Homepage #1
You have to fight Vahkohs a third time in his private chambers. They're a little to the east of where you fought him the second time, in a room you might have visited before.

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The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure!
Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Geneforge Scenario Editor(BoG) in General
Thuryl
...b10010b...
Member # 869
 written Wednesday, October 6 2004 23:01 Profile Homepage #9
Whoops.

[ Thursday, October 07, 2004 00:45: Message edited by: Prince Albert in a Can ]

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My BoE Page
Bandwagons are fun!
Roots
Hunted!
Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Item Script help in Blades of Avernum Editor
Thuryl
...b10010b...
Member # 869
 written Wednesday, October 6 2004 16:58 Profile Homepage #7
quote:
Originally written by Eric-Ihrno:

Ok, I tried Init_State, and the problem is that the creature doesn't actually appear until init_state finishes, so the creature isn't visible in the cutscene.
You did remember to refresh the screen, right?

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The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure!
Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Item Script help in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl
...b10010b...
Member # 869
 written Wednesday, October 6 2004 16:58 Profile Homepage #7
quote:
Originally written by Eric-Ihrno:

Ok, I tried Init_State, and the problem is that the creature doesn't actually appear until init_state finishes, so the creature isn't visible in the cutscene.
You did remember to refresh the screen, right?

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The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure!
Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Geneforge Scenario Editor(BoG) in General
Thuryl
...b10010b...
Member # 869
 written Wednesday, October 6 2004 16:46 Profile Homepage #1
I kinda like you, so I'll spare you the sarcasm. Other people have mentioned this before, and it seems at least moderately likely to happen. I'm not sure if it's such a great idea, but eh.

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My BoE Page
Bandwagons are fun!
Roots
Hunted!
Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Politics in Exile? in General
Thuryl
...b10010b...
Member # 869
 written Wednesday, October 6 2004 16:25 Profile Homepage #25
TM's a self-described communist, but his philosophy is too idiosyncratic to pigeonhole.

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My BoE Page
Bandwagons are fun!
Roots
Hunted!
Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Non-violent solutions in the Geneforge Series in General
Thuryl
...b10010b...
Member # 869
 written Wednesday, October 6 2004 16:00 Profile Homepage #11
quote:
Originally written by Andrea:

What about henchman/pet kills?
Those still add to your kill count.

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My BoE Page
Bandwagons are fun!
Roots
Hunted!
Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Ok then, New question in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl
...b10010b...
Member # 869
 written Wednesday, October 6 2004 01:16 Profile Homepage #8
If you have a Mac, corescendata.txt is in the Blades of Avernum Files folder, which itself is inside the Blades of Avernum folder. On Windows it should be somewhere vaguely analogous.

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The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure!
Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
The Scenario That Wasn't. in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl
...b10010b...
Member # 869
 written Wednesday, October 6 2004 01:12 Profile Homepage #8
I don't think Slith was criticising your scenario. In context, he looks like he was responding to Demonslayer, and talking about the magic-disease-turning-people-undead thing being a cliché. Which it sort of is.

[ Wednesday, October 06, 2004 01:13: Message edited by: Prince Albert in a Can ]

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The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure!
Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Perfect Forest in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl
...b10010b...
Member # 869
 written Wednesday, October 6 2004 01:10 Profile Homepage #4
Uh, you don't have to restart. If you visited the machine or mirrors before and didn't get a message that popped up, just revisit them. Unless you've saved yourself into a situation where the Perfect Spirit has drained you nearly to death or something and you can't possibly do everything in time, there's no reason to start over.

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The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure!
Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Non-violent solutions in the Geneforge Series in General
Thuryl
...b10010b...
Member # 869
 written Wednesday, October 6 2004 01:02 Profile Homepage #8
I played through Fallout just a few weeks ago without getting a single kill to my name. I did have to repeatedly move in and out of combat mode in some parts of the military base and Cathedral to avoid being spotted by guards, though. Still not sure if it really counts as a pacifist game, since you're still responsible for the deaths of whoever was in the base and Cathedral when you blew them up. :P

Oh, and I don't think you can get a good ending for Junktown without killing Gizmo. I didn't, anyway.

Can't speak for Geneforge, though.

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My BoE Page
Bandwagons are fun!
Roots
Hunted!
Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Silly Request (to Jeff Vogel) in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl
...b10010b...
Member # 869
 written Tuesday, October 5 2004 12:49 Profile Homepage #26
quote:
Originally written by Kelandon:

Third, we can only have four custom abilities. The fact that something can in theory be made into a custom ability is not a perfect solution for anything.
You could also have the script's point-of-entry be a custom item, like an alchemy kit or something.

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The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure!
Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Exile vs. Avernum in The Avernum Trilogy
Thuryl
...b10010b...
Member # 869
 written Tuesday, October 5 2004 12:46 Profile Homepage #1
It will surprise you to know that you are the first person ever to mention any of these things, and that nobody else misses them at all.

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The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure!
Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
How to raise money? in General
Thuryl
...b10010b...
Member # 869
 written Tuesday, October 5 2004 12:40 Profile Homepage #85
Oh, I didn't say I didn't like the Australian uni system. It's just completely insane.

HECS (the repayment plan you mention) has its advantages and disadvantages. A lot of students don't like the idea of being saddled with a long-term debt for getting into uni.

There's also controversy over full-fee places, where wealthy students can have university entrance requirements reduced in exchange for paying the entire cost of their education (~$20000 a year compared to ~$6000 a year with HECS). The reality is that these are places that wouldn't exist were it not for the students paying for them, and students still have to do well once they're at uni to get a degree, so it doesn't bother me overly much, although of course I'd prefer if government funding to education were adequate to give a place to every capable student.

quote:
EDIT: Isn't it the case though that most Australians will stick to the unis in their state? I had heard that most folks in WA stick to Murdoch and UWA, for example, while around Adelaide it's Uni Adelaide, Flinders and USA.
Well, I can only speak for Victoria, but yes, over here the better students tend to try to get into Melbourne or Monash, while the second tier go for local universities.

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My BoE Page
Bandwagons are fun!
Roots
Hunted!
Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Ourobourus in The Avernum Trilogy
Thuryl
...b10010b...
Member # 869
 written Tuesday, October 5 2004 05:08 Profile Homepage #6
Was it Rentar? I could have sworn it was one of the souls in the Shrine of Crystals.

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The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure!
Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
How to raise money? in General
Thuryl
...b10010b...
Member # 869
 written Tuesday, October 5 2004 05:02 Profile Homepage #81
The system for university admissions in Australia is the work of some insane genius.

Each student gets a study score for each subject taken in the last year of high school. Study scores range from 10 to 50; they're normally distributed, with a mean of 30 and a standard deviation of 7.

The study score for each subject is scaled up or down by arcane and secretive mechanisms based on the subject's difficulty (essentially, based on how well students who did that subject did in other subjects). Scores closer to the mean are scaled more than those further away, so a 30 in a given subject might become a 35 but a 40 would only become a 42. The scaled scores are then added together and compared to the rest of the age group throughout the state to give a percentile score.

The subtly different scoring systems for different states are then normalised to give each student who successfully completed high school a percentile score, the ENTER (Equivalent National Tertiary Entrance Rank).

The ENTER score ranges from 0.05 (although scores less than 30 are reported only as "less than 30") to 99.95, and it's far and away the most important criterion for entrance into university. You can get into most courses on the basis of ENTER score alone, although some (like medicine and creative arts) have other requirements, such as a folio, interview or test.

The whole process, from study score generation and scaling to ENTER score calculation to the submission of applications for university entrance, is overseen by a central authority, which changes its name every few years (it was the BOS 5 years ago, then it became the VBOS, and now I think it's the VCAA).

Any American exposed to our system would likely choke on their tongues and scream "socialism" forthwith, but it's a lot more convenient than submitting a separate application to every university for every course you want to get into.

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My BoE Page
Bandwagons are fun!
Roots
Hunted!
Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Perfect Forest in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl
...b10010b...
Member # 869
 written Tuesday, October 5 2004 00:10 Profile Homepage #1
You can only push the mirrors once the Perfect Spirit has started draining you and you've visited the machine that's keeping it trapped (you have to see the machine after the spirit starts draining you).

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The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure!
Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
BoA Graphics Entries and Judging Details in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl
...b10010b...
Member # 869
 written Monday, October 4 2004 20:02 Profile Homepage #7
If you didn't actually copy any pixels from the other graphic, it's original.

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The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure!
Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00

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