Warmaker

BOOMS are nice! But I preferred FIRE even more! It was unfortunate Apocalypse didn't allow vehicles in the tactical game modes. I really wanted that ability / threat. Another favorite in that game: Using Gas Grenades to KO the badguys, let the gas die down, enter the room, and then execute the enemy with 1 shot. Maybe a dozen more shots to be safe What really sucked was when certain aliens use mind control and actually take over one of your troopers. Wow, did that suck! The cool thing was that Cyborgs were immune to mind control. But Cycborgs didnt' get stat increases from experience, so it balanced out.

I've never played any of the previous Silent Hunter games. It's the first Sub Sim I've tried since 688 on the Genesis and I missed Jane's 688 years later on the PC. I'm still a newb to Wolves of the Pacific and trying my best not to be sunk by an angry Japanese sailor on a rowboat Still trying to get a hang of the commands.

(With "Anchors Aweigh" playing in background) I've had touch and go flings with Navy sims. The nice thing with Naval warfare / wargames is that you practically never come across the bad apple types from FPS / MMO games and their special brand of online retardation. Naval warfare is a game of patience. Rushing in for a fight will result in you taking a bath in the sea. Or just getting blown out of the water. My first was actually on the old Sega Genesis when my Dad bought for me M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank and later 688 Attack Sub for it. Yes, the Genesis had early hardcore sims on it! The gameplay was unforgiving for 688. You could play as a Captain for a Los Angeles Class Nuclear Sub or, IIRC, a Soviet Alfa Class Nuke. What was cool was that when orders were issued, replies and chatter were all in English or Russian. Missions varied and the targets were of a wide variety. Cargo ships, warships (incl. US/USSR carriers, US Iowa battleships, etc), submarines (ballistic, attack, nuclear, conventional), and you even had to worry about maritime air patrols, which were really dangerous. Trying to avoid detection and once you have been detected, trying to throw off your hunters. Then there's trying to evade actual attacks. The big payoff though was your torpedoes making their hits. There were missions also where you were supposed to get into range of a target and launch sub-based Cruise Missiles. I also recently bought Silent Hunter IV: Wolves of the Pacific. I'm trying to learn the in's and out's of it and start prowling the Pacific for prey. I don't think you can play as a Submarine Captain for the IJN though. Would've been interesting. Still, Gato Class is fine enough for me! Also, I've played a bit of the IL-2 expansion, Pacific Fighters. I love flying the F4U Corsair and there's opportunities to fly off of a carrier. The letdown with Pacific Fighters is that the variety of ingame warships is actually quite sad. Only the Prince of Wales is in, and that was sunk real early in the war. There are no other battleships in the game, British, American, and even Japanese! No North Dakotas, Iowas, or the mighty Yamato Class battleships. So many warship classes were left out that it hurt. Some say, "So what? It's a flight sim?" I say, "It's a flight sim set in the Pacific Theater. Warships were the major ingredients for success in the Pacific, and for so much to be left out, it's a detriment to a Pacific Theater game."

Over here in the USA, recruiting ads go up and down in how they present the military. Of course, I'm right now an Active Duty Marine, so my opinion here will suffer a degree of bias. When I was growing up in the 80's, the US Army's "Be all you can be" ads were fine. If I was going to join the military back then, it would have been the Army! The 90's and into today? The Navy, for as much flak as we give them, usually have okay commercials, though "It's not just a job. It's an adventure!" sometimes gets funny. Today it's still okay for most parts, but my only grievance with them is that they're really emphasizing the SEALs in newer ads. The SEALs are such a very, very, very small number within the Navy. Getting admission into this elite organization is hard, and getting through the school / training is that much harder with alot of people washing out. In my opinion, it's awkward to ask kids to join a Naval organization's tiniest group with an extremely large chance of never making it. And I'm not sure what happens to them if they fail the course. Maybe someone on this forum can tell who had knowledge of it. Air Force? The USAF had decent ads back in the day. It was simple, showing F-16's, F-15's, etc. with the service song "Off we go into the wild blue yonder" playing in the background. Wasn't too flashy, but seeing the jets were nice. But I'm not too keen on their logo, but hey, whatever works for them. Army. The Army's was decent for most parts until a few years ago. "Be all you can be" was fine. Not great, but fine. Then things went downhill with the "Army of One" ads. The best was the soldier running through the desert without a shirt, sunglasses on, rifle in hand, and dogtags swaying. Oh... my... God. Things improved just a little but it was still tacky, IMO, with "There's strong. Then there's Army Strong." Oh well, at least it's no longer "Army of One" since it seemed to push individualism over the group, the last thing you want in any military formation. I do know what they really meant with "Army of One" as a sort of unity statement for an entire Army, but the way it was presented and the way the statement sounds to many, it means individualism. Marine Corps, my current service. I don't recall the 80's ads. But I do recall the ads from the 90's onwards. Some of ours had a bit of cheese. But we did have some great ones, the Chessboard & Pieces which alot liked. One of our recent ones with the Marine climbing to the top of a mesa, showing periods of the Marine Corps' history flashing on the mesa walls (esp. the Flag Raising on Mt.Suribachi), and finally resulting with the help of a WWII Marine at the top (the Marine Corps looks at WWII as one of its greatest eras). A friend of mine still in the Corps joined because of a commercial showing the forging of a sword Another recent commercial showing Marines throughout the various parts of its history, reciting the different names they've been called (Devildogs, Leathernecks, etc). In the end, it finishes with "They're all called Marines" with two Vietnam era Marines going down a street in Vietnam together holding an American flag. Our slogans in our commericals / posters? "We're looking for a few good men." "The few... the proud... the Marines." And for commercials on Nov.10, it doubles as a Happy Birthday Marines with "Semper Fidelis, Marines" We're the only service in the US that has an annual commerical commemorating the service's birthday, and the commerical is different every year, and shown on only that weekend of the birthday. Lastly, the Marine ads do not promote college money, learning an occupation specialty, etc. They've traditionally only promoted for one to become a Marine, that's it.

At the expense of our Canadian friends. Don't worry, I'm sure the US recruiting ads (i.e. Army) will get their due soon enough.

Like how women look naturally fabulous on magazine covers?

Nope, I had SWBF2 and it does imply the Clones knew full well what was to come. Some did feel sorry for the Jedi Generals that they did have affection for, i.e. Aayla Secura. However... none rebelled against Order 66, and the movies pretty much shows Jedi getting slaughtered by their own troops (Felucia, Mygeeto, Selaucami, and they tried at Kashyyyk against Yoda). Anakin Skywalker leads the 501st Legion into the Jedi Temple to kill everyone inside, and the troops complied without hesitation. Aayla Secura was shot repeatedly from behind by Cmdr.Bly and his troopers. Ki Adi Mundi was shot by his troopers as he led an assault against the Seperatists (between now hostile Clones AND the Seperatists... he was F***ed). Cmdr.Cody, who had a great relationship with Obi-Wan Kenobi, did not hesitate in ordering the attack on his General. Etc., etc., etc. The Jedi shown getting killed onscreen were the among the cream of the crop of the Order, several being Council members. Aayla Secura did garner support from her Clones during the war, but Order 66 was still carried out without hesitation and without question. Of course, the way the EU is going these days, I'm sure they'll make a story where Troopers will rebel against the order, save Jedi, and join the Rebellion. Typical BS the way the EU sometimes likes getting into. ------------------ As for Yoda surviving the attack against him at Kashyyyk, he's the Grand Master of the Jedi Order, an 800+ year old Jedi Master. The best living Jedi the Order had. Mace Windu stated that he himself was "but a mere Padawan compared to Master Yoda." Plus, he makes it for the Original Trilogy A good read into the Clones' mindset, tradition, etc. is in the Republic Commando books, especially Triple Zero. ------------------ Like I said before, some of the EU is great (Heir to the Empire Trilogy, KoTOR I), some of it absolute trash (SWG, Dark Empire). To me, the trash is what tries to negate or go against the basic theme and background of the movies. As for the EU showing more Jedi Post-Order 66, it's already there. There's a current run of comic books right now that shows surviving Jedi leading Seperatist remants against the brand new Galactic Empire. The MMORPG, Star Wars Galaxies, is set after ANH and before ESB. Yet you see more Jedi than Stormtroopers in that game. There's also books (maybe 1 year old by now) that talks about the "adventures" of Jedi that survived the Purge. This is why I consider much of the Star Wars EU to be utter trash since it goes against the theme of the movies. Luke Skywalker was "the last of the Jedi, you will be." He wasn't # 1,010,005 of the surviving Jedi. Obi-Wan was long dead in ANH. Yoda was in his last days and died at the beginning of RotJ. With Yoda gone, Luke was it, and had to face Darth Vader and the Emperor himself. He didn't have the aid of thousands upon thousands of surviving Jedi and Jedi Masters. He didn't have the benefit of veteran batallions of surviving Jedi lending advice or assistance. Luke had to make do with little and still succeed. Call me old fashioned, but I preferred the Galactic Civil War the way it originally was. Rebels vs Imperials X-Wings vs TIEs Rebel infantry vs Stormtroopers Emperor Palpatine & Darth Vader, no "extra fat" Luke Skywalker, last of the Jedi, since Yoda was in his last years of his life and will die. After all, Episode VI was titled "Return of the Jedi," not "Jedi Returning From Vacation."

Desperation is the look on an alien's face when you step on his neck with your boot and fire your weapon into his head

Wikipedia: Flag of Japan Japanese Military Flags It's kind of hard getting varied historical information on some subjects (like this) on the internet without seeing a bunch of pages basically copying the other. Anyways, it seems the "Bursting Sun Ray" flag we all know of was originally adopted in 1889 as the Naval Ensign. At the end of WWII, it was disused but readopted in the early 50's, and only the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Forces fly it. It's definitely a highly recognizable flag, and IMO, quite unique. I can't recall of any other country's flag or ensign that look anything like it. Some others... Naval Jack of the United States (restarted this design in 11 Sep 2002, used to be this from 1960-2002) Naval Ensign & Jack of Germany Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom Naval Ensign of Russia Oh, and as for the "Seaman Ship" commercial... I think I prefer the US Navy's "Full Speed Ahead" or "It's not just a job. It's an adventure!" recruiting commercials Speaking of the Japanese Navy... Navies around the world are widely known to be hardcore traditionalists. You sea uniforms like the "Cracker Jacks" in practically all Navies, even most Non-Western* ones, or Navies that were founded fairly recently. I wonder how different the Japanese Navy's dress uniforms are from their WWII counterparts... * = "Hey Sailor! Yeah you in the front! Eyes straight ahead!!!"

Some of the Star Wars EU is cool, but the EU also likes to contradict itself and especially the movies. Which is why I ignore the EU completely if we're talking Star Wars story and theme. If we believe what the EU says, especially the games, that means the Jedi are alive and well in the age of Palpatine's Empire. They're just taking a vacation. It means that Luke was never the "Last of the Jedi, you will be" as Yoda said and was really insignificant compared to the powerful Jedi that still remain as the EU says As for the Hitler thingie... I'm not saying it was right or wrong, but he and Star Wars' Palpatine did it "legally" within their own scopes. Both were Chancellors and heads of their respective governments. ** For Hitler assuming power in the first place, he was really at the right place at the right time in history to do it, in the miserable years after WWI for Germany. He knew where an when to "push the buttons" with the opportunity he had. Love him or hate him, the man had alot of charisma, and had a terrifying ability to sway people. If you ever get a chance to watch reels of his speeches before late WWII, it's eerie how he can easily do it. But this discussion could be another thread in itself. **

Hey, they're ALL there for you... almost $200 U.S. a pop!

I swear I heard of a few places that mentioned that although the B-24 was more advanced than the B-17 it just wasn't as sturdy. I have seen many, many pictures and wartime footage of B-17 Flying Fortresses limping back to an airfield with massive battle damage. But I haven't seen any for B-24 Liberators. I'm sure they're out there, but I haven't seen any. As for CFS2, I'm an avid fan of several WWII flight sims: European Air War and IL-2 top my prop list, but mostly EAW due to the outstanding campaigns. I began the war as a Major in the Luftwaffe's JG26 flying Bf109E's. Our squadron eventually transitioned into the formidable Fw190's. By early 1944, I was an Oberst (Colonel) and the CO of my squadron, as well as being an Experten with 80 or so victories. We had a alert to launch from our airfield in France to intercept another American formation of B-17's. I launched all available aircraft (12), got directions from ground control, climbed, then went for an intercept. Our angle was good, we were far ahead of the massive bomber formation. The escorts of Thunderbolts trailing aft of the bombers and just more than 1000 ft above. I asked ground if we will have assistance. I got the typical Luftwaffe answer by 1944. None. "Great" I thought. Still, we had great position. I elected to climb 2k feet higher than the bombers, turn into them, and go for frontal dives. We still had a well experienced group of pilots so they will make use of the short amount of time we get to aim and fire our 20mm cannons due to the fast dive. The goal with the Focke Wulf's powerful armament was the bomber cockpits. I intended to have our squadron continue to dive and break away since the American Thunderbolt escorts were at least a full fighter group compared to our single '190 squadron. Our diving speed should keep the Jugs off our tails. We closed in, and the sections assigned their targets. Once it was all sorted, I ordered the attack to start and I dove first. We had it perfect, the classical "out of the sun" and "bandits 12 o'clock high" type of deal for attacking fighters. The American gunners were surprised and the amount of fire wasn't as strong compared to a rear approach. Due to the surprise, their defensive fire came up rather late. I had a Flying Fortress lined up very well and fired off my 4 cannons, obliterating the cockpit with a big flash. I proceeded to dive through the bomber formation but nothing else popped up in front of me. The very short attack I recall had several important messages. There were a number of kills by the squadron against the bombers, I think we got 4 total as I listened to our traffic at the time. When my dive carried me out of the bomber formation, I continued to lead the squadron through the dive for escape. I looked back to see how things were going. I saw several B-17's going down. I then saw another bright flash and had a bad feeling. One of my pilots it seems had accidentally slashed his 190 through a wing of a B-17. The poor guy was panicking in his doomed fighter with a dead engine and missing wing, and his wingman was yelling for him to bail out. But the plane, along with the Flying Fortress, were both in steep, death spirals with nobody escaping from either aircraft. I kept our squadron going and reformed at low level, heading back to our airfield. On reformation, I wanted a status. We took down what sounded like 5 total B-17's in one very, very effective stroke. But it costed us 1 pilot, a Hauptman (Captain). I recall that pilot since he was a regular wingman for me when I was a Major and he was a fresh Leutnant. Sad... We flew home but none of the P-47's gave pursuit. I guess they were wary about more attacks? There weren't any. We were the only thing the Luftwaffe sent against them. 1 measley squadron...

Hasegawa's done real good with the Macross line. They're affordable also. They're not difficult to put together. Just give them the proper finish, and they look awesome. My only wish is Hasegawa to produce them in 1/48... or maybe 1/32 scale. Mmmmm, the possibilities of a larger scale plastic valk kit. I'm sure Hasegawa can do it since they're a major model producer with tremendous backgrounds in aircraft kits. 1/32 scale VF-1 Strike model kit. Yum. 1/32 scale aircraft kits aren't that much more expensive either.

/nerdendulgence_on Ahh, Order 66, a good one for Star Wars. I loved it when the Jedi were getting mowed down. Order 66 was clearly a premade, existing order. It had a premade name. The Chancellor did not have to give literal instructions to kill the Jedi. He said to "Execute Order 66" to the Clones, and the Clones carried it out to a T. The Clonetroopers were drilled with loyalty and obedience to orders. Loyalty to the Republic and obedience to orders, like any military force, but carried further with the Clones. With that in mind... The Jedi Order, despite it's long intertwined history with the Galactic Republic, was never part of the Republic Government. It had exerted great, practically autonomous authority in the Republic, but it was not an arm of the gov't. It "danced" with the Senate and Chancellor in various problems. But Jedi did not answer to the Republic for any wrongs they did. They answered to their own Council, not the Senate or Republic authorities. So, when the elected head of the Republic government, the Chancellor, has declared the Jedi to be enemies of the Republic to the Clones who are loyal to the Republic and the Chancellor, not the Jedi... As for the Jedi not detecting or picking up on the underlying secret and order within ALL Clonetroopers, the Jedi are overrated. From the highest ranking Clonetroopers, the lowest ranking trooper, to the Clone Commanders the Jedi Generals frequently were accompanied with, they didn't feel anything. The Jedi were powerful, but not omniscient and omnipotent as some make them to be. They actually kind of rely on that reputation. After all, they couldn't even detect for many YEARS that the very evil they were looking for was smiling at them behind his desk / podium, Chancellor Palpatine! "If something were to happen to you... I wouldn't be able to bear it!"... The ONLY good thing about the game SW Battlefront 2 was the single player campaign's storyline and narration. "If they can be fooled, they can be killed." When the Clones were still loyal to the emergent Empire and Emperor Palpatine, it was no problem that their loyalty was retained. The Republic changed itself to the Empire legally from within (Palpatine was the legal head of the Republic and had support from the Senate), the Chancellor became Emperor. The rules didn't change for the Clones.

If you want accuracy, SW Battlefront II has alot of really bad errors. The movie Space Balls is a better adherent to Star Wars than what SWBF2 does. The gatling blaster your thinking of was first shown in the Clone Wars cartoon, something about the "Hunt For General Grieveous." It's on Vol.II, IIRC. It's carried somewhat like Jesse Ventura carried his minigun in Predator, not over the shoulder. Clone Wars: ARC Troopers

The mention of Boeing made me think of WWII bombers and I looked them up on Wikipedia, starting with the B-24 Liberator. The B-24 page on Wikipedia has a tragic picture, here. You just know none of the aircrew will get to bail out with this type of damage, but according to the caption, a waist gunner was thrown clear of the bomber and survived. I recall seeing clips of another B-24 getting hit and quickly going down. It looked like the camera was so close from a higher up Liberator that you could clearly see the pilot & copilot. Next thing you know, a quick flame shoots out near the left wing's root and the left wing snaps off. The B-24 then immediately dives and begins to spiral, along with all the still-living aircrew. There's enough footage of catastrophic damage of various aircraft in combat from WWII, single engined or not. A bad way to die, IMO.

Arms Dealing was an interesting aspect of X-Com. For my X-Com Apocalypse experience, after a bad initial experience, I refrained from selling arms. In one of my early games after getting a good grasp on gameplay, I had decided to sell surplus weaponry. Rocket Launchers and even a few Disruptors off into the market. I made some decent coin and was happy. Not too long afterwards, I decided to run a raid into the slums against one of the criminal syndicates. When I play X-Com Apocalypse, I fight Aliens AND Crime (MegaPol loves us). Anyways, we did a raid and fought the criminal scum. We saw the standard conventional weaponry and such. Then we began to take some Rocket fire, which was a surprise to us, but thankfully we didn't take any hits since their aim was so bad. When another group of scum appeared, we began to take Disruptor fire from them. We put them down with a few bullets. When the raid was over, we confiscated all the intact gear, recovering a Rocket Launcher and 5 Disruptors... probably the same weapons I sold a few days ago. I know the various organizations, depending on their funding, can get decent gear, but NOT Alien tech unless they've been heavily infiltrated. It was dangerous enough being an X-Com trooper, and I didn't want to endanger my forces anymore by selling weapons and not having control who retains them. From that point on, I manufactured / purchased weapons for X-Com's use only. Nothing was sold, even seized conventional weapons and ammunition. Also, it ensured that I had a huge stockpile of weapons and ammo. As my game progresses, I actually acquire extra bases. Lots of construction for living quarters, storage, research & manufacturing modules, etc. Lots of incoming personnel in these different bases. With the enlargement of X-Com, it requires a huge stockpile of gear to ensure all my bases, all my troopers have the choice pick of gear they need. The game does not keep all the weapons in one pool of gear where each of your bases and personnel in each of those bases can easily withdraw from. The troopers use the gear stored at THEIR base. With that in mind, I ensure all my bases are stocked well with equipment. My typical X-Com Apocalypse team compositions: Typical X-Com Trooper: Standard Armor, MarSec Flight Armor (uncommon and only for veterans), X-Com Armor (really late development), assault rifle x1, magazines x5, explosive grenades x2, smoke grenade x1, incendiary grenade or gas grenade x1, first aid kit x1... actually a fairly weighed loadout, even with the heavy starting armor. Typical X-Com Gunner: Armor selection same as regular trooper, pistol x1, x2 total pistol mags, 1 special weapon: Auto Cannon - 3 total explosive round magazines (1 equipped by default), 1 Armor piercing mag, 1 incendiary mag. OR Rocket Launcher - 3 total explosive rockets (1 equipped by default), 1 incendiary rocket... real heavy loadout. Typical X-Com Assistant Gunner: Armor selection same as regular trooper, pistol x1 or assault rifle x1 (depending on the strength and endurance of trooper, but preferrably a.rifle), x3 proper magazines, lots of extra ammo for Gunner's special weapon, first aid kit x1 Typical Tactical Fire Team: x4 troopers 1) Fire Team Leader (Veteran) 2) Rifleman 3) Gunner 4) Assistant Gunner The most common fire team composition I field in all mission types. Has moderate mobility and can deal effective fire at short to medium ranges. Can do long range fire in a pinch if Gunner use well aimed fire while everyone else sits tight on defense and spot for targets. The assault rifles people put down but I put them into very good use and I still field alot of them late into the game. With Normal or Aimed fire, the A.Rifles are effective at medium ranges. With Snap Shot (fast) or Normal fire (esp. Veterans), they're fast and deadly at short ranges. Support Team: x4 troopers 1) Fire Team Leader (Veteran) - Extra ammo if he's strong enough. 2) Gunner x2 3) Assistant Gunners x2 The second most common fire team type I field. Firepower is what this team brings in spades. Extra ammo from rest of team ensures sustained fire. Optimal engagements are medium to long ranges. If equipped with x2 auto cannons, setting the Gunners to Normal or Snap Shot (fast) rates of fire, the team can lay down alot of deadly explosive fire. CQB / Assault Team: x4 troopers 1) Fire Team Leader (Veteran) - Typical armor selection, pistol x1, magazines x4, laser sword x1 (mid-late game available typically), x2 smoke grenades, x1 gas, incendiary, and explosive grenades, first aid kit x1 2) CQB / Assault Trooper x3 - Typical armor selection, assault rifle x1, magazines x6, x1 smoke and gas grenades, x2 explosive and incendiary grenades, first aid kit x1 3) Grenadier (OPTIONAL: Replace 1 Assault Trooper for every Grenadier) - Typical armor selection, pistol x1, magazines x4, x2 smoke and gas grenades, x4 explosive grenades, x3 incendiary grenades, first aid kit x1 This team's focus is on mobility and deadliness in close quarters fighting. Having no special weapons means the team isn't weighed down by them nor their heavy ammo loads and an extra trooper lugging more ammo around. The assault rifles can spray fire at close ranges at Snap rates of fire (fast) and still be effective at medium ranges with normal or aimed fire modes. Flexible, IMO. Opting for Grenadiers means going for pistols and lots of grenades. The grenades are the first option since more are being brought. The pistols seem weak to many players but are useful indoors for covering short hallways and such. They take very little action points to fire and are decent in very close ranges. They're also light, and allow your Grenadiers more weight allowance for grenades. Sniper / Sniper Section: Typically x1 trooper, x2 un uncommon circumstances, but up to x4 total in the rarest circumstances 1) Sniper (Veterans only) - x1 laser rifle, x3 laser rifle power cells, x1 first aid kit, x1 pistol, x2 magazines, x1 smoke grenade. Armor - Typical armor selection, however, the MarSec Flight Armor set is very useful in positioning the Sniper(s) into very interesting shooting positions via flight. However, the armor is very light in protection. Demolitions Fire Team: x4 troopers 1) Fire Team Leader (Veteran) 2) Rifleman 3) Demolitions Trooper x2: Typical armor selection, pistol x1, magazines x2, smoke grenade x1, 1-2 Demolitions Pack, first aid kit x1 This team is uncommonly used. I use it for purely punitive raids where maximum destruction is warranted of an installation. Mobility is important but the heavy demo packs are a detriment. That's why the Demo Troopers themselves ony bring pistols purely for self defense. The Team Leader and Rifleman provide limited cover with their assault rifles for the Demo.Troopers to move and set the explosives. Typical X-Com Deployed Force x2 Tactical Fire Team x1 Support Fire Team As I recall, you can send up to 4 teams with 4 troopers in each for a grand total of 16 for your biggest shows. 3 is what I send for most. Depending on the upcoming mission, I'll substitute / add fire teams. But I will always field at least x1 Tactical Fire Team and x1 Support Fire Team. The remaining again depends on what I'll be facing and where. The equipment is focused on conventional equipment since it's easily acquired and you can amass a boatload of them over the game. Alien / Adv.Weapons can be substituted here and there, depending on what the weapon can do. Armor: The great variable, IMO. The starting armor is heavy but provides good protection. I NEVER send a trooper without at least this type of armor. The later researched and developed X-Com Armor is protective, offers some mind control defenses, and is light. Once you discover this armor type, produce these en masse... ASAP! Lastly is the MarSec Flight Armor. It is available fairly early in the game. The armor's light and provides flight / hover capability. This unique ability provides tremendous mobility and tactical possibilities. Snipers can post in great positions. Troopers can enter in imaginative areas for an assault. But again, the protection on this armor type is very poor, so it's up to you to weigh the pro's and con's: Tactical mobility and flexibility vs protection. Laser Swords: Very, very cool weapon. Very deadly in close combat and useful for carving holes through walls! But these weapons appear in the mid-late portions of the game and are quite expensive. Their numbers are always limited so only the Team Leaders / Veterans / High ranking officers of X-Com can get them. For me, it acts as a badge of rank & position. The highest ranking member of a deployed force gets one automatically. In addition, the highest ranking member in X-Com, our overall commander, gets one automatically as well as choice pick of equipment.

It's a reputation you want your aircraft to have, but not have to test yourself It's like the Martin & Baker Fan Club for Ejection Seats.

My final piece is this, and I guess this is my opinion. More accessories than these? 1 2 3 (reminder on how much VF-1 FAST Packs bring to a package) 4 (just reminding the capability and details of the GPB) The new VF accessories for the -0 and -19's? They don't do anything. Just tack them on. No extra details, no extra features. Especially noteworthy is the VF-1J + GBP in 1/60. For a good price, the combined package was overflowing with goodies... for $82.15 U.S.! What the 1/48 & 1/60 GBP sets did have in common were lots of total parts, openable missile bays exposing a s**tload of missiles. Even the VF-1 FAST Packs as mentioned before, had the extra details and components (mainly differences in Strike and regular FAST Packs). These new VF's are approaching $200 U.S. with the YF-19 + Fold Booster FAST Pack set at $191.12 U.S. easily leading that charge. For a non-limited issue item, that's steep, that doesn't bring that much more to the table than VF-1 combination packages full of everything. Very steep. Really, it's almost like they're doing a Tamiya. As for the notion of the complex transformation nature of the newer VF's meriting higher price tags: The VF-1 Valks when Yamato first brought them into 1/60 were also complex. Recall that the only transformable Valks in mass quantity that weren't models were predominantly the stiff but durable 1/55's. The 1/60's were cutting edge transformable toys when they came out. When they transferred to 1/48, they were even more complex. Yet we didn't see the 1/60 or 1/48 Valks close to $200 U.S. Even the crammed packages of 1/48 VF-1J combination packs only approached $166 U.S., and there were enough guys here moaning about those prices... really, I was moaning about the price of the initial 1/48 Max / Millia deals and missed that run. Note: Examining details of the lengths of the VF-1 1/48 and VF-0A 1/60 in fighter modes, I finially saw they are equal in length despite the scale difference. Still, paying more for a Valk the same size as my 1/48 VF-1's isn't enticing, especially if they don't bring that much more or even less than the best of my VF-1 packages. If the VF-0 and YF-19 Valks were 1/48 scales with the current pricing, then I could see justification for the steep prices. But even then, those are still very high costs.

I'm not in the Rotary Wing community my time has been in fixed wing (KC-130's, F/A-18's). Our guys in the Hercs and Hornets sport the M9 pistol, the standard fare for aircrew. Like I said, I've been fixed wing. But I have seen the cockpits for the AH-1W's, and that's a tight fit for a carbine or even SMG. The aircrew for the transport helos like the '46 and '53 probably could bring larger defense weapons since they have the space. But I'm wagering their aircrew will prefer a pistol since it doesn't get in the way of their duties.

I did something rare. I preordered a game and I'm hoping for the best. The graphics sure aren't prime compared to today's games. But I'm gambling on the X-Com gameplay being resurrected for current Windows. X-Com Enemy Unknown's graphics and gameplay was pretty dark. Not as dark as this "revamp" but it was there, esp. compared to Apocalypse (go figure). Your X-Com troopers also get killed on a higher rate than other X-Com games. X-Com Apocalypse seemed "brighter" with that 50's sci fi look. Still, there were some grim, dark areas, it just depended on what area you were operating in. What I loved with Apocalypse was the extremely wide variety of terrain the game could generate for the mission, all depending on the target(s) and location. - You could investigate crashed alien spaceship sites. There's likely to be survivors that need to be killed and subdued. I preferred not to use explosives too much to capture as much intact alien technology as possible. - You could conduct alien raids on locations / human organizations that are being infiltrated by the aliens. You have to be careful, since not only will there be aliens, but there will be innocent bystanders. Fire discipline is crucial, keep the full auto in check!... at least until the bystanders are gone. - You could raid human organizations that are hostile to you. Cult of Sirius (Alien Lovers), Crime Syndicates, Corporations (uncommon), etc. If you succeed, you could capture alot of extra gear. But if you love explosives and fire like I did, you'll seize less. But sometimes, it's fun to raid just to cause damage and make the hostile organization lose money. I recall gleefully raiding the Cult and Criminal Syndicates for the sole purpose of killing their people, seizing gear, and setting the place afire (or blow it up). The Cult has this big, old opera house building. We put a fine show there on a regular basis. It's just as fun imploding a den full of criminal scum as it was wiping out aliens - The locations varied: slums, public parks, office buildings, factories, greenhouses, shopping malls, regular houses. To top it off, every building can be entered! They have their own rooms, furniture, etc. - Every bit of terrain can be damaged. A rocket will damage the ground. You can blast through walls. Windows shatter in a gleeful manner. Doors can be destroyed. - Apocalypse could have up to 8 "levels" of terrain so you could have big, multistoried buildings and hills. - A cool thing was that buildings, could have catwalks. Nothing like fighting on catwalks. Or shooting a rocket at the catwalk supporting some of the enemy from the 6th story, watching them fall to their deaths. - Sometimes your X-Com bases will be raided by Aliens or even hostile humans. Good fun, especially if you designed your bases with defense in mind. Your civillian scientists and engineers are still there and need to be hidden for safety. - If you raid certain areas, if the situation is just right, you may get into a HUGE firefight. I'm talking your X-Com troops vs Aliens & Infiltrated humans. In one game, to my dismay, MarSec, a local arms manufacturer, was being heavily infiltrated according to your intel guys. We organized a massive raid on the MarSec weapons plant, prepared for the worst. My guys were equipped with the best I could bring, bringing the best troopers. But the infiltrated MarSec personnel were heavily armed, along with their Alien overlords and their hi tech weapons. We had to conduct several raids to ensure the infestation and infiltration was negated. Another cool thing from Apocalypse was the very lightly armored but highly mobile flight suit. This enabled your trooper to have unlimited flight and hover capability. Fire while flying was inaccurate. Only the best troopers could fly accurately while in a hover. It's protection was pathetic but it gave me an awesome maneuver section, giving me an option to assault sections from wild, crazy directions. I could blow a hole on the outside section of a building at the 7th story, and then my flight group would fly in to assault from there. Another fun one was getting a team of fliers to get auto cannons with explosives & incendiaries, fly to several windows on each floor, shoot incendiaries through the window, and start a fire on each floor. A fun weapon was the mid-game, expensive laser sword (i.e. lightsaber). Wall? Carve through it. Hostile? Carve through it. Another fun piece of gear were the heavy Demo Packs. Have a guy run somewhere, set the timers, drop the packs, and get out of dodge. Observe the explosive mayhem!

I remember seeing one of those big Russian transports back in 1993. I was in Marine Boot Camp in MCRD San Diego. We were in a class just before Pugil Sticks and I was staring at the transport which was in transient through San Diego Airport / Lindbergh Field. Of course, I got in trouble for being distracted... Anyways, that plane is HUGE, and I thought that the USAF's C-5 Galaxy was big.

There is one thing that I find weird with the US Army since the mid 90's and end of the Cold War. How very few bonafide Infantry Divisions there are. I know the downsizing due to the end of the Cold War. Everyone got smaller in numbers. I know the Army even shut down some armored formations. Also, AFAIK, there's only one mountain div., the 10th Mountain Div. I know the Army has a focus on offensive maneuver and firepower, i.e. Armored formations. But looking at the scarce number of Infantry divisions in the Army is kind of weird. On another note is the US Navy. During the 80's Cold War, the Navy was at a strength of roughly 600 warships. Today? Less than 300! Every warship class has been cut down, but the only thing that has been maintained in improved strength are the Carriers. For a military that's actively fighting the War on Terror, fighting in Iraq & Afghanistan, keeping watch in South Korea and the Western Pacific Rim, etc., our current strength isn't that high, IMO. The downsized military would have been fine with the then-predicted "Peace & Harmony" with the end of the Cold War, but... we all know how that went. ------------ kalvasflam, regarding the force presence and Spec.Ops. in Iraq... Turning it over to a Spec.Ops. dominant operation would be good, but there's not enough of these highly trained troops. It would be good if the standing Iraqi military and police force are decent, but those guys still need time for proficiency and confidence, as well as strength. The US is turning over more duties to Iraqi gov't forces, but US formations are still standing by for the worse case scenarios. That alone says alot, which means that their military and police aren't fully ready to bear the burden of supporting the new gov't even against domestic problems. They need time and experience. Until then US troops need to stick around for more duties and backing them up.

Back during my Apocalypse gaming days, there were a slew of Portrait mods for your X-Com troopers. My favorite then was the Anime portrait mod. I got a good recruit that I was contemplating on hiring but was hesitant since we had alot of new guys already. Then I saw the portrait. He had Officer Ohta of Patlabor fame, in his naturally angered facial expression. I hired him on the spot, gave him a bunch of gear, and said, "You're participating in a raid against the Cult of Sirius. Here's some demo packs and lots of grenades. Have at it and kill those alien loving scum!"

Not quite so! As I said in my original post, the 1/60 line back in the day WAS a pretty dang good deal. The current and even older crop of 1/48 VF-1 Valks are still an even better deal than what you get with the new / upcoming 1/60's. I can see myself paying what they're asking for with 1/48 versions, including all the bells and whistles of accessories, just like the highly sought after Max & Millia 1/48 VF-1J's. Again, look at what you get with a 1/48 Max / Millia -1J. - Big VF-1J in blue / red - FAST Packs! -- Openable FAST Packs showing engine and missile bay details, including removable micro missiles - Gun Pod - A whole slew of missiles & missile pods. ... all for a slightly cheaper price than any of the upcoming 1/60 YF-19, SV-51, etc. which barely have anything! Even the old Hikaru VF-1J FAST Pack combo, Roy VF-1S Strike combo, etc. give you more bang for the buck! Previous combo packs for the 1/60 lineup yielded you a fine deal on your purchase also. Armored VF-1J? Then there's the combo packs for Hikaru, Max, Millia, and Roy with Super / Strike FAST Packs. With the newer, upcoming stuff of the 1/60 lineup, you won't get better quality / durability, you get less accessories despite the newer stuff... you don't get more for your money. You get less. I pay enough for my 1/48's. But it seems Yamato is approaching the $200 U.S. mark quickly enough with very few add-ons for your money. Maybe Gun Pods will be a separately bought item soon? $15 U.S. for your VF's gun? Missiles sold separately also soon for another $15 U.S.? Sounds like a joke, but the way Yamato is going these days, never can be too far off.