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F-ZeroOne

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  1. F-ZeroOne
    Just another small point about "banning" "cutting-edge technology" - World War II fighter aircraft were, by and large, cutting edge technology at the time. In fact, some pilots of the era used to complain about the new-fangled gadgets like retractable landing gear and cockpit canopies that they didn't need in the good ol' days... At least one historian has argued that this sometimes had a detrimental effect on aircraft design, when pilots in some countires were able to exert an undue amount of influence (the example used was Japan, where the pilots preference for light, agile fighters meant sacrificing armour and firepower, though its no doubt more complicated than that as available engine power was another factor... )
  2. F-ZeroOne
    This is a little late - I've been away - but recently the Sinclair ZX Spectrum celebrated its 30th birthday. The humble "rubbber-keyed wonder" is widely credited with having created a nation of both gamers and games programmers in the UK, some of whom are still very much active today. Heres to tape loading, "BEEP" and colour clash!
  3. F-ZeroOne
    We probably wouldn't do much better than the late-model WWII planes, I think. If you ban jet engines you could well be banning turboprops - which are, essentially, a jet engine with a propeller...! If you still allow CAD at the design stage, then there might be some interesting designs allowed and also if you allow composite materials and computerised flight controls which may have a significant effect on weight and handling. Electronics are in everything these days, so fuel effiency might be better due to electronic engine controls, but if you don't allow that - well, the late war fighters were pushing the limits of conventional prop design (arguably, the P-38 with its compressibility issues was doing that in 1940!), which is why everyone started moving to jets in the first place. Regards UAVs in movies: actually, Sidewinders being used against ground targets is not completely unrealistic (leaving asides the fact that no current drone I know of mounts them); early Sidewinders reportedly often locked onto ground targets due to reflected heat, while recently the US carried out trials with the latest model 'winders for use against ground targets...
  4. F-ZeroOne
    When did the F-22 get a fold booster...?!
  5. F-ZeroOne
    "Macross" was one of the key "intro" series to anime for me, and probably many others (in whatever guise that may have been) - a great legacy he leaves behind.
  6. F-ZeroOne
    I think how I discovered "Macross" was through the "Robotech" RPG; pen-and-paper RPGs being one of the things I was into at the time. "Battletech" was also a bit of an influence. I also remember arguing with a friend of mine that there must be some reason why the "Jetfire" toy didn't look anything like its animated counterpart, even if I wasn't to discover the reasons for that for a very long time... This would all have been in the very late 80s/early 90s. I had a little inkling that some of the animation I watched as a kid was "different" due to shows like "Battle of the Planets" and "The Mysterious Cities of Gold". The first "Macross" I actually saw was either the "Clash of the Bionoids" version of "Do You Remember Love", or "Macross II", ironically enough. There were a couple of near misses, various cheap-and-cheerful VHS releases of various "Robotech" items were available in the UK but being a nipper I didn't have the pocket money... ("Robotech" was also shown on early UK satellite TV but I had no way of accessing it at the time). At some point, probably on a rare visit to "Forbidden Planet" in London, I picked up the first three "Robotech" novels. It was probably the high-quality (for the time) "Anime UK" magazine that started revealing some of the "truth" for me, and "Macross Plus" was probably what cemented things (the wait between volumes was agonising). It wasn't until the AnimEigo DVD releases that I actually saw the original TV series for the first time!
  7. F-ZeroOne
    "May require cement"...?
  8. F-ZeroOne
    He was doing what Char does: leaving stashes of gold bars around and hanging out in bars, picking up girls.
  9. F-ZeroOne
    Its around episode 20, though it might be best to think of it as getting "better". Basically, when Bright stops being straight man to a bunch of meddling kids, that'll be about when.
  10. F-ZeroOne
    He would probably have given up and given the Air Force its money back. But it was a different time and the Skunk Works sometimes had their own problems, some of which proved to be nearly as or just as intractable as any modern aircraft program.
  11. F-ZeroOne
    Your round, then.
  12. F-ZeroOne
    I've got a quid [1] in my pocket - anyone want to form a bidding consortium? [1] Ancient British form of currency.
  13. F-ZeroOne
    Anyone got Yoshiyuki Tominos phone number? I need to unleash him!
  14. F-ZeroOne
    Now if I can just find the other million or so parts, I can make my own never-produced naval stealth attack aircraft! http://www.ebay.com/itm/McDonnell-Douglas-A-12-Avenger-II-Canopy-Only-one-Private-Hands-Unobtainium-/150718532486?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2317864b86#ht_9829wt_1344
  15. F-ZeroOne
    I had a Pioneer DVL-919 for a while (thats the European model number, I don't know if it was different in the US. I don't know about quality, as I never had anything else to compare it to, but it does have a practical side in that it could also play DVDs as well (though its the size of a small house in comparison to modern players!).
  16. F-ZeroOne
    Ah, please delete/ignore, didn't notice dates on original posts...!
  17. F-ZeroOne
    Theres some speculation as to whether thats the drone or not. I'm in the "I don't think so" camp, on the grounds of size - drones maybe unmanned, but they can also be surprisingly large. Wikipedia lists the RQ-170s wingspan as approx. "20 metres" (at least), and while its always difficult to judge scale accurately without a measure, assuming Mr. Iranian Air Force Guy is of average height, that whatever-it-is looks a bit undersize to me. Its also been pointed out that the drone would also weight quite a bit - which suggests thats one hefty desk they're propped it up on...
  18. F-ZeroOne
    I've seen it as well. Honest opinion? The trailer is the best version...
  19. F-ZeroOne
    Guys? I think we might need to update our official paint schemes guide...
  20. F-ZeroOne
    The "amulets" I remember, Sayla and Amuro exploring the size of his beam sabre, no, I don't recall that either - though its been quite a while since I read the books.
  21. F-ZeroOne
    There was a cartoon once where Amuro and Sayla are in bed together but Sayla cries out at the crucial moment...
  22. F-ZeroOne
    Just my tuppence worth on the "AC realism" issue - the way I look at it is that the Ace Combat series is not meant to be a simulation of how modern air combat actually is, but instead a simulation of how we imagine air combat to be. Its the air combat of Area 88 and Yukikaze, where you can launch backwards off an aircraft carrier and not melt half a billion dollars worth of antenna with your afterburners whilst doing so... I still haven't played much of this game yet, got two other games on the go and its been a bit at the back of the queue for a while...
  23. F-ZeroOne
    "That feel a little rough on touchdown to you, Bob?" http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15543209
  24. F-ZeroOne
    I doubt it, I'm not convinced any of the cast are actually old enough to drink alcohol!
  25. F-ZeroOne
    Yes, having now seen the second episode it does seem to hint a bit more thats its perhaps a distant future UC setting - one where everyone wears GOGGLES!
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