F-ZeroOne

I know that one was inspired by the other, but I think thats the most Valkyrie-like shot of a real aircraft I have ever seen...

Shin: "Did you know you have a funny fuzzy circle where your crotch should be?"

Someone said that they wanted to see the Brave Gokin Ingram in a shot with a 1/48 Yammie. Well, this isn't quite what they wanted... In case no-one gets the reference, Stirling Moss is a famous British racing driver who once completed a 1,000 mile long road race at an average speed of 100 miles an hour. (and these were 1950s miles per hour, too, which count double). He has since become the yardstick by which speeding drivers in the UK are measured by police officers - the quote from Ota is the coppers famous deadpan comment to offenders, only with someone else replacing "Stirling Moss"... HCM, by the way, is taking the standard "walk the line" test... And, oh, thats not a really small Brave Gokin at the back - its Bandais Labor in Action Alphonse...

I recently got to see VOTOMS all the way through for the first time. What impressed me the most is how mature it is. Many mecha heroes sit around whining about their lot; Chirico instead gets up an punches Trouble in the face. He gives every impression of being harder than nails. Nails made of neutronium. I finally get now why all these VOTOMs toys keep coming out.

The first 20 - odd episodes of ZZ are a horror show. Theres a number of explanations that have been offered, but basically, Tomino must have been on the happy-happy pills a bit too much at the time. (Tomino should not do happy. Its just not him!). However, things improve considerably past about episode 22 onwards. Granted, a lot of damage has already been done - Bright at one point gives away a battle carrier to a bunch of bratty kids, and in ZZ is also transformed from doubt-ridden but duty-bound commander to the Universal Centurys greatest straight-man - but ZZ just about redeems itself from that point on. Tomino proved that he can have a lighter touch much later in Turn-A, but the first half of ZZ proved that, at the time, he should have stuck to the day job - killing 'em all.

Theres a '03 Twingo car parked in the lot, which is unusual as this image was shot in the US.

@*&%$!! Mind Control!

Terror missions are tough. I just completed one against Sectoids - not exactly the greatest threat in the game - and consider myself lucky to have got away with one mind-altered trooper and one wounded (unfortunately, my ace autocannon gunner, who was shot in the back by the mind-controlled guy). Mind you, "Burn everything!" appears to minimise casualties. My casualties, at least...

I had something nearly as good - barn with alien inside and UFO behind it. After shooting up the place and deadifying the alien, I was sneaking some troops round the side when the UFO commander decides to poke his head out the UFO door. Unfortunately for him, due to my earlier... er... wall... surpression... there was a direct line of sight between the commander and my autocannon guy, who it turns out has some pretty quick reactions. And was loaded with incendiary ammuntion. This happened twice. Cue on-fire alien retreating back inside UFO only to pop out again next round and get more of the same. Despite being on fire for at least two rounds, though, what actually got him was a rocket in the face from the troops that were going round the side. They just don't make 'em like this anymore. (my all-time favourite shot from this series of games - counting "Laser Squad" and "Rebelstar" - was in Laser Squad. Very long corridor, my guy at one end, bad guy at other standing next to a whole heap of fuel and oxygen tanks. My shot went straight as an arrow for what seemed like forever then - I swear - passed through the bad guy and struck the tanks. It felt like the explosions went on for the rest of the day...!)

Raptorski!

Ah, so I see - although they remain servicable and awaiting possible contract work. Must Refurbish Canberras Again...

I will never - not ever - get tired of shooting firing holes in walls and then setting fire to the insides of buildings.

The total number of flying Vulcans in the RAF is exactly zero, and has been for many years. There is soon to be one, flying example for air displays and such but thats it. All the others are either in museums or scrap metal now. There are still a few Canberras in service...

Several Sectoids now given 40,000 volts straight up the... er... "probing area" thanks to Mr. March!

Thanks, everyone, especially Mr. March, for the tips! Some of them I've seen before elsewhere, but Mr. Marchs is perhaps the most unique approach I've seen yet - cover everything in smoke and then cattle-prod the bad guys! You can "acquire" the game on the web, although by many accounts its a bit of a sod to get working on modern machines. I use a free program called D-Fend, which with a little bit of set-up and tweaking to make the game speed right works very well. Note that some versions of X-Com will have the original bugs, such as the "One blaster bomb waypoint prevents reloads" bug... Right. Someone pass me that autocannon. Time to eat hot firey death, alien scum!

And. He. Needs. Help. Inspired by this thread, I've started playing again. This was a game I played the hell out of back in the day, so I figured I'd know what I was doing. On my first mission, the aliens had shot two of my troopers before they'd even stepped away from the Skyranger transport. I got one shot in - with an incendiary round - which was close, but not quite close enough, which meant that the now-on-fire Sectoids return volley plasma-fried my auto-cannon gunners lungs. This, you understand, is on "Beginner". Goodbye, humanity. It was nice knowing you. And, er, care to share a few tips for the current X-Com playing equivalent of the Godzilla-era Japanese Ground Self-Defence Force, Mr. March?

Theres something odd about that gunpod grip, it looks like it rotates seperately from the trigger...?

I believe some versions of the Avenger also had 20mm cannon.

Personally, I think it should be the "Rolls-Royce Mustang"...

This line made me smile: "Joan Boyd was born in Labor." Weren't we all?

Ha! Gun Bunny!

Those looking to recreate the X-Com experience but unable to get hold of the original games for whatever reason may be interested to know that Rebelstar: Tactical Command is available for the Gameboy Advance and features similar gameplay, although without, AFAIK, the resource management. In addition, X-Com was the ultimate development of an earlier series of similar games beginning with the 8-bit Rebelstar, Rebelstar II and Laser Squad, all of which can be emulated. Laser Squad introduced many elements that made it into X-Com, including limited resource management and collateral damage, and is still very playable today. Versions are available for Amstrad, Atari ST and Amiga, but true Raiders will opt for the ZX Spectrum version.

Re-sult, my son! [1] I need my Cats Eye. [1] Traditional battle cry of the English.

What, you've never heard of Luftwaffe ace Baron von Warmaker, "The Nightmare of Big Week"...?

It does tend to depend who you ask - some B-24 pilots point out that the type had a lower loss rate than the B-17 overall, but that might just reflect usage of the types in theatre. It is true that the B-24 could not gain as high an altitude as a B-17, and was therefore more likely to be attacked. It was also by many accounts a real handful to control at the best of times, which might have led to more losses, and some reports say that it had a tendency to burn easily.