Warmaker

When I get back to the US, I'm looking forward to BF3's release and intend to get Witcher 2. The last RPG I got was Dragon Age Origins (skipping DA2). Also waiting for ARMA3 but that's later down the road. Was a huge fan of Operation Flashpoint and ARMA2. For a FPS, I loved the immense maps and open ended missions in them, especially ARMA2. The missions were great in that they simply weren't down to Success or Failure. There were additional side-objectives that you can try that may have immense consequences to the mission. I.e. finding out about a key informant and getting to him / her before the enemy agents do and getting info to make the mission easier. If not, the mission is harder without the info and the informant's death may bring a hit to the US force's reputation with a quasi-neutral group of rebels. There's 2 hits with ARMA2, IMO. a. Steeper learning curve - It's not a forgiving game (no hide behind cover to recover health) and learning all aspects of playing takes effort. Infantry combat being easiest but the rest requires practice. Remember, it says Military Simulator on ARMA2's box Personally, I don't mind the learning curve because I get alot of fun once I "figured it out." b. Bad, robotic sounding voice acting. It's because the voices in the game are dynamic, depending on what's going on. There's scripted voice work, i.e. standard mission narrative / voice over. The dynamic nature of the voices is great, but I do hope they make it sound more natural.

Ha, you reminded me of a little story a friend of mine had where a 81mm mortar round landed on top of a poor cow

The Patlabor TV series and OVAs are far better in being "well-rounded" by giving a heavy dose of great, memorable characters as well as a good amount of mecha tossed in. TBH, I wasn't really fond of the Patlabor movies. With each successive movie, I disliked them even more. And the last?, WXIII made me destroy the dvd for the huge waste of time and money it was.

Heh, there was, it was called "Policenauts" in the mid 1990s but it never came across the Pacific. H.Kojima has left behind the Snatcher series long ago, unfortunately.

Your first one? BF2, Wake Island As far as spotting a target, yeah, just hold down 'Q" then a pop up menu comes up in the center of the screen. There's a very simple, small set of menus you can quickly go through. Anything from marking targets to calling supply drops and artillery. Very quick to go through. For the vehicles, in BF2 and BF2142, I was real good with the tanks. I was quite accurate with long ranged cannon shots.

That's the thing. It's not about not being able to kill something because you don't have the proper class / weapon / vehicle or not in the right position and its too dangerous to approach to get a better angle. Let your team know. Even with random drop in players, they will react to distant threats if you call them out. Example: I do love playing a sniper, even with vehicle heavy maps. I'll venture a bit more off from the squad to better observe enemy approaches and pick off any AT teams or Engineers that threaten my side. I'll pick off people as they run with glee to that cool looking tank to drive it. Anything else I can't handle, and in particular something that looks dangerous (like the Tank + 3 engineers or any other combination), BF has a very simple system to let you broadcast the threats to the rest of the team. Teammates can then see the threats. A gunship can go in and a**rape the Tank with accurate rocket salvoes and cannon fire to strip away the engineers / infantry. If you're one of the Squad Leaders for your team, you can mark them and call for artillery support from your Commander (if arty is not on cooldown). If you are the Commander, you're likely just staring at the overall tactical map looking at the flow and progress, and you can call down artillery on major threats or clusters that your side finds. That's the thing: Call out the threats to your team. Use the ingame target marking at the very least, use voice, or if you have no mic but need to get specific (2 tanks 1 apc coming down road NW of refinery), type it and throw it out on team chat. In BF you can never kill everything yourself. But as a team? You can. If you can't kill it yourself at that moment, someone on your team can. Random unknown players believe it or not will come in to help. Until then, get away from such danger or continue to harass them (give them something to think about until help arrives), or hold your fire to follow and observe them, call out to your team what you think they're gonna do. BF games are one of the few FPS games I frequently send thanks to teammates that come in and save my bacon. It's all because of the very heavy team-based mechanics. If in sight of the enemy, there's always something positive to do for the sake of your team, even if you don't fire.

Here was the funny thing with the BF crowd. Though not everyone spoke, quite enough did, especially Commanders and those filling in as Squad Leaders. Enough communication to get a bunch of strangers to fight together. The game also gave incentive that performing actions according to your Commander and Squad Leaders' orders netted you more points. You got quite a bit of points if your squad members or squad leaders working for you carry out your orders. On the flip side, you don't net much points if you've shown a trend as being a bad Squad Leader or Commander. Or simply poor squad leaders saw their members leave their squad. A good one? People will flock to your squad. The games rewarded competent leaders if successful. Not to mention nifty points for "Teamwork": Resupplies, Healing, Rez, etc., on top of following orders. Match leaders quite easily were done by players that not only had respectable K/D numbers, but because they had tacked on a sh*tload of Teamwork / assist points. Or were good leaders and netted alot of points because the directions they gave were deemed good enough that their subordinates followed them. As for the complaint about a Tank being kept alive by 3 engineers or such... what are you guys thinking? Shoot the engineers, call artillery, or any other combination to do the basic tactic of stripping protective infantry away from armor. I guess the big difference between COD & BF is that BF isn't about the Killstreak to get even more kills. It's about Teamwork.

They still bring extra dimensions to the maps. Far more than from what I've seen with the COD series. If you've never bothered trying to get better with the vehicles, then that's you. But it never stopped us from having fun with the infantry combat either. I was horrible with vehicles but I stuck to it, especially the helos and jets (helos take more practice). Like I said, in one game and on any map, you'll have the prospects for both infantry AND vehicle based combat. In the same game, in the same maps. It can be easy to believe that vehicles absolutely dominate BF games... but then you've probably never met players who are very good at knocking out armor and aircraft. Traditionally for me in the BF series, Sniping is where I excel and AT duties comes second. Another reason why I like the BF series is the emphasis on team play and composition. Too heavy a focus on certain aspects of classes will make your team vulnerable to something. Too heavy a focus on AT players opens you up to classes like assault and snipers. Too heavy a focus on classes with heavy emphasis on anti-pesonnel / small arms will make you vulnerable to armor and such. Then you've got the engineers to repair vehicles, repair bridges that have been destroyed / demolished, and the traditional support (resupply ammo) and medics. I'll put it like this: COD is a one-trick pony (infantry only) while the BF series offer more angles of combat in the games. In small, medium, or large maps, far more variety is offered in BF games than the small maps and tiny number of players that have become staple with the advent of MW2. Hard to beat moments like being one of the last group of defenders holding a victory point and in the process of being overrun. In the last second, teammates arrive with a helicopter gunship laying down devastating fire all the while a transport helicopter drops off a squad of infantry teammates to join in and help out.

I read it before I had to do some travelling recently. I'm one of those guys that can appreciate Cracked's "articles" every now and then. But you want comedy? I'm visiting a US Air Force Base and the internet service on the base's billeting won't allow me to visit Cracked. I get the notification: "Your page is blocked due to a security policy that prohibits access to Category Violence" Really? On a US military base? After roughly 10 years of continuous combat operations? As for FPS, the last COD game I was a fan of was MW1. I think Activision regressed the series with MW2 and Black Ops. However, I have high hopes for Battlefield 3. I've been a longtime fan of BF2 and BF2142. What I liked from them was the broader spectrum of combat compared to a pure infantry FPS like COD. Vehicles, both air and ground, add alot of extra dimensions to the fighting. Even in the vehicles, you have equivalents of Jeeps / Humvees, APCs, tanks, trucks, mobile AAA, transport helos, attack helos, jets, etc. All to go alongside infantry classes equipped with varying small arms and specialist equipment. I've had alot of fun knocking out tanks while teammates cover me against infantry attacks. Or vice versa. The maps tend to be larger and you frequently will see them have a nice balance of open areas as well as dense terrain. Equally fun for fighting as infantry or piloting / crewing a vehicle. That's why I've been a bigger fan of the BF franchise, and hope DICE can improve upon the core BF series.

I started with the 1st movie, "My Conquest Is The Sea Of Stars." But I'll do as you suggest and actually start with the series then. I held off at Ep.7 for the time being. But yeah, those things are sprinkled liberally throughout the show

So, after putting it off for years and seeing something on the 'net to remind me of it, I'm acquiring what I can of Legend of Galactic Heroes. Give me a couple hours at least. I don't expect an official US release in my lifetime at least. I want to see what the show was about after hearing some good word about it on these boards a while back. One thing's for sure, from seeing all the episodes, movies, etc. listed, I won't have a lack of things to watch for quite a while. Edit to add: My God, I actually had to look up on Google a viewing order for this. But there seems to be a wide variety also on what order to view. Any suggestions?

Welcome to the new era of MMORPG gaming. Where companies strip bits of basic features from a game that you bought full price and / or pay a subscription for, and on top of it, sell to you again those basic features. Microtransactions is the name of the game these days in the genre. Considering Blizzard works for Activision, it doesn't surprise me.

What if you give Barbie an MG42 with belts of ammo and a Walther P38 as a sidearm?

I really like the show. I see it when I can over here in Japan via Armed Forces Network. Looking forward to see more.

The dude is clouding the picture up. But other than that... hmm...

As far as Star Wars, that's the only stuff I've been collecting recently. More specifically, only the Stormtroopers and some of the Clone Troopers. I've got all the Sandtrooper variations but I want the regular, clean Stormtrooper. As far as Clonetroopers, I've got the 501st, Capt Rex, 212th. Waiting on Commanders Bly and Cody to arrive home. I'm wagering Sideshow will be doing the other named Clone Commanders also, which should be a treat. They also need to do the Snowtrooper from ESB and Scout Trooper / Biker Scout from ROTJ. Complete with speederbike, plz I've got a few other trooper types from older Medicom / RAH releases. But I've drifted away from that company since they're overpriced and these figures aren't exactly the cheapest, either. Sideshow's 12" figures are a far better bargain for what they are, IMO, than Medicom's. *sigh* You gotta watch out with Star Wars. Lucas and his boys have all kind of ways to empty your pockets. Whether you're into lower cost stuff or the pricey ones. Ugh... I'm waiting for official warship kits for Star Wars. Only the Venator from Revell and those old ISD kits are out there. With what model kits can do these days, I'd like to see a new ISD kit made as well as a SSD/Executor. Star Wars is filled with cool warships but they're never made. Only some fan made kits are out there.

Not sure what's gonna happen now with Arnie's "problem" right now. Probably going to keep quiet for the time being and take the flak. Even after the disappointment of Terminator Salvation, I'm still down with the franchise. But me, personally, I'd like to actually see the future war with the from the glimpses we've seen in the older Terminator films. To see events leading up to Reese's mission.A couple ground rules, at least for my tastes: * Humanity / Resistance has to look desperate. Watch the video & cutscenes. Man living underground, trying to keep out of sight of the Machines. People living in awful conditions eating rats, crying in their terrible habitats and overall situation. Just don't do it like Salvation. The resistance in T:Salvation was lavishly equipped, well fed, having signs and watchtowers around their bases for all to see. Hell, they even had airbases with flightlines full of helicopters, jets, and transport aircraft along with all the proper support equipment and skilled personnel to upkeep them. There obviously was no concern with Skynet, or worry about losses since they sent a large heliborne assault on a Skynet base. * Skynet and its Machines need to actually be a threat. They're being massed produced and they should always be looking for and exterminating Humans. Whether it be by standard operations (sweeps, assaults, etc.) or infiltration / termination missions. Salvation IMO, did a piss poor job in showing the threat and might of Skynet. It's a challenge to even find a handful of machines in one scene in Salvation, and they were awful in trying to kill Humans. So much for the vaunted might of Skynet. Simply put, a Future War movie needs to show Mankind's survivors reeling from the shock of Judgement Day and its terrible losses inflicted. Only to be addded onto by a relentless, merciless force of Machines bent on finding the last remnants of man to exterminate it. It shouldn't look like a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare movie.

A King Conan flick now? Wearing the crown of Aquilonia upon a troubled brow? Yes I say!

No offense, but I can give 2 s*its about the Feds, even though they got by far the majority of the dev attention. And this is supposed to be a multi-faction game? And people are hoping to see a playable Romulan faction? I recall when I left there was also the hope of a playable Cardassian and most especially the Dominion (I personally would have loved to try them also). And Cryptic's total work on the Klingons has been done only through much arm twisting and heated forum wars. It's like they really just don't want to work on them, period. Not a good sign for having a truly diverse gaming experience set in the Star Trek universe. One of the things when I signed up for STO leading into its release was for a chance to live in the Star Trek universe, pick my faction to join and have adventures with, and have at it. I did like the idea of a renewed Federation-Klingon War, and it made for an outstanding backdrop for players of both sides to fight over. It's also a classic Star Trek theme. But PvP when I left got boring, most especially for the KDF since it really is the ONLY thing they can do. Ground PvP was a total nightmare (the word "HOLD" comes to mind as one example). Space PvP had access to a variety of maps but really, they only generally took place on 2 of them. PvP also began to die down as the months progressed after release. Hell, there used to be alot of Klingon player fleets but once people saw Cryptic's lack of effort and attention on the faction, those fleets died out. Not to mention being isolated to 1.5 game sectors vs the Federation's roughly 9 game sectors (again, at the time of me leaving). And don't get me started with Cryptic constantly dropping stuff into the C-Store, an MMORPG Cash Shop, while the game collects money as a Subscription-based MMORPG to even play. That's double-dipping big time. They especially loved doing this with ships, and from my time-to-time checkups into the game, they still do.

Oh. Oooohhh... this was supposed to be about the physical training. I see now. My caught myself tilting my head in certain directions for different angles.

I left the game long ago for many reasons. But 2 of the major reasons why I did so was these 2 points you brought up, esp. regarding the Klingons. I was one of the constant KDF players but sticking around was a self-punishing experience. I PvP'ed all the time but there literally was nothing else for the Klingons and little to customize with (even uniforms). It's irritating to still see that even after 1 year and several updates, there really hasn't been s**t done for the Klingons.

Next time I'll use the line, "I will be praying to ease your pain" and see how it goes. Inspiring.

I almost want to say that's a fan made pic. Please tell me it is.

Gotta agree on it being a Tornado. Not many swing wings models out there and only the Iranians fly the F-14 now. Besides, the Germans do show up here in the USA quite a bit. We shared a hangar with them in Mt.Home AFB while we trained there. Our younger Marines that haven't been around foreign military services were in shock about their whole thing with alcohol On a related note, I recall a while back seeing Luftwaffe F-4 Phantoms sitting on the line, and before that in the early 2000's. Our Avionics Chief saw them and got excited because when he came into the Corps, he worked on those birds.

I'm over at MCAS Iwakuni, Japan right now. Nothing going this part of the country other than Tsunami Warnings. Just have to stay away from the seawalls right now. Not bad for us due to the location and how this part of Honshu is angled away.