narcogen's picture

Archived community forum thread. Because all of the old forum posts are listed on a single page, you may see memory errors; if so, try reloading the page. To make new posts, go up one level to the new community forum and click "create new topic".

Comments

SpondMax's picture

In reply to: Hehe

acrappa wrote on Saturday, 02/16/2002 - 8:16 pm:

: Earendil wrote on Friday, 02/15/2002 - 7:11 am:
:
: : wtf is a teddy beard? :-)
:
: I was wondering if he was going to tell us, too.

me too. 6 days later, and still not a peep. Looked in altavista, ask Jeves, google, nada. Best I can figure ... teddy is a piece of female undergarment. Beard is a collection of hair, usually on a man's face. Could it be, since the teddy ends just above the midriff, that a teddy beard is the fluffy growth just above the female genitalia?

Anonymous's picture

bungie.net rest in peace.

last breath approximately 1:15AM PST, 16th February 2002. :-(

This is not an exit.

Anonymous's picture

People no longer frequent the rampancy forums, why? Where have all the people go to?

-SM

Anonymous's picture

First can the links to the forai be localized so I don't have to paste in "http://161.58.233.37/rampancy/drupal-cvs/" in place of http://rampancy.net (c=. Second, for those of you who care Maya Personal Learning Edition is available in Mac OSX and Windows. I haven't been able to try it out yet as I'm at work but I'll send in another report once I've been able to play with it some more.

http://www.aliaswavefront.com/en/Tmpl/Maya/html/index.jhtml?page=/en/Com...

narcogen's picture

In reply to: Two Things

Cunbelin@work wrote on Tuesday, 02/26/2002 - 2:53 pm:

: First can the links to the forai be localized so I don't
: have to paste in "http://161.58.233.37/rampancy/drupal-cvs/"
: in place of http://rampancy.net

This should work now if you use the domain rampancy.synfibers.com to enter the site.



Narcogen


Rampant for over se7en years.



Anonymous's picture

Island Four is no more, not that it was ever anthing more than that.

I'm considering writing a what happened article, but simply just haven't made time to do it.

Sorry if anyone was let down, but it was not my fault.

Tim

narcogen's picture

In reply to: Island Four

Tim wrote on Friday, 03/1/2002 - 10:24 am:

: Island Four is no more, not that it was ever anthing more
: than that.
:
: I'm considering writing a what happened article, but
: simply just haven't made time to do it.

Wouldn't something have had to happen before you can write an article about what happened?
:
: Sorry if anyone was let down, but it was not my fault.

Of course not. Who would think that?



Narcogen


Rampant for over se7en years.



Anonymous's picture

In reply to: Re: Island Four

narcogen wrote on Saturday, 03/2/2002 - 3:19 pm:

: : Sorry if anyone was let down, but it was not my fault.
:
: Of course not. Who would think that?

Duh Narcogen. Everyone knows that companies/groups of people and their entire well beings are all tied to one specific individual -- usually the most visible and verbose one. Sheesh. ;)

- Meg

narcogen's picture

In reply to: Re: Island Four

Pallor wrote on Tuesday, 03/5/2002 - 3:52 pm:

: narcogen wrote on Saturday, 03/2/2002 - 3:19 pm:
:
: : : Sorry if anyone was let down, but it was not my
: fault.
: :
: : Of course not. Who would think that?
:
:
: Duh Narcogen. Everyone knows that companies/groups of
: people and their entire well beings are all tied to one
: specific individual -- usually the most visible and verbose
: one. Sheesh. ;)
:
: - Meg

Point well taken, although one might allege that this is in fact the case when entire companies actually consist of no more than one individual and his alternative personalities :)



Narcogen


Rampant for over se7en years.



kalis's picture

In reply to: Re: Island Four

:
: Point well taken, although one might allege that this is
: in fact the case when entire companies actually consist of
: no more than one individual and his alternative
: personalities :)
:
:


Narcogen

there's always the John Romero example... the company lives on without him, but certainly suffered from his image.

Anonymous's picture

In reply to: Island Four

Tim wrote on Friday, 03/1/2002 - 9:24 am:

: Island Four is no more, not that it was ever anthing more
: than that.

Bummer. It can be very difficult to start a company and starting a game company at this point in time is even more difficult, unless you have boat-loads of money. I really enjoyed Nathan's input to Halo, specifically the Cortana letters, and I was looking forward to a game that might have that kind of content. My understanding was that the goal of Island 4 was to build a game that was writer driven and I wanted to see how that played out. I hoped that they would license an engine, maybe even getting a deal on the Halo engine, and then would have supplied the content.

: I'm considering writing a what happened article, but
: simply just haven't made time to do it.

It would be nice to have some closure to this, like more info about the game you were planning on making. I don't think an article bickering about "who killed who" is appropriate, but a little something about the game's story would be nice.

: Sorry if anyone was let down, but it was not my fault.

Why not just blame it on Microsoft? Everyone else seems to. ;-)

Anonymous's picture

In reply to: Re: Island Four

Saber wrote on Tuesday, 04/9/2002 - 12:31 am:

: Tim wrote on Friday, 03/1/2002 - 9:24 am:
:
:
: : I'm considering writing a what happened article, but
: : simply just haven't made time to do it.
:
: It would be nice to have some closure to this, like more
: info about the game you were planning on making. I don't
: think an article bickering about "who killed who" is
: appropriate, but a little something about the game's story
: would be nice.
:
:
He did write an article detailing the life and death of Island Four over at HBO - use the search function to look for his name. He wrote it about a month ago. Unfortunately, no info about the game(s) they were planning - he mentioned that he'd still like to use those ideas in his future plans, IIRC.

MakeMineRed

Anonymous's picture

In reply to: Re: Island Four

MakeMineRed wrote on Tuesday, 04/9/2002 - 3:28 pm:

: Saber wrote on Tuesday, 04/9/2002 - 12:31 am:
:
: : Tim wrote on Friday, 03/1/2002 - 9:24 am:
: :
: :
: : : I'm considering writing a what happened article, but
: : : simply just haven't made time to do it.
: :
: : It would be nice to have some closure to this, like
: more
: : info about the game you were planning on making. I
: don't
: : think an article bickering about "who killed who" is
: : appropriate, but a little something about the game's
: story
: : would be nice.
: :
: :
: He did write an article detailing the life and death of
: Island Four over at HBO - use the search function to look
: for his name. He wrote it about a month ago. Unfortunately,
: no info about the game(s) they were planning - he mentioned
: that he'd still like to use those ideas in his future plans,
: IIRC.
:
: MakeMineRed
:

Wow. What a sad, sad story.

Anonymous's picture

In reply to: Re: Island Four

: He did write an article detailing the life and death of
: Island Four over at HBO - use the search function to look
: for his name. He wrote it about a month ago. Unfortunately,
: no info about the game(s) they were planning - he mentioned
: that he'd still like to use those ideas in his future plans,
: IIRC.

Where can I find this article?

Anonymous's picture

::Bangs rampancy.net... excuse me, rampancy.synfibers.com, repeatedly on the head::

Anonymous's picture

omg the dns works

Earendil's picture

::does a little dance::

Oh! They have the internet on computers now! - Homer J Simpson

Anonymous's picture

::Meanders across empty room to the podium::

Like a lot of people, I have waited a long time for Halo. I got an XBox and a copy of Halo a while back, played through it several times on the various difficulty settings, and am still waiting on Halo. I loved the game on the XBox but I am mostly an online gamer and prefer a keyboard and mouse for shooter and realtime strategy games. Now I am waiting on the Mac/PC version of the game.

Halo was a lot of fun but my situation doesn't lend itself to sitting in front of a TV with a bunch of friends playing head-2-head. I'm married with 3 kids and can't just sit down and play Halo. When I first got the game, I grabbed the TV and took it to my room and played through it several times. My wife and I played through as well. But now the game is just sitting and collecting dust.

So I am waiting for the Mac/PC version in order to get interested in playing Halo again. With Marathon and Myth I got more than a year of enjoyment out of each game. I played Marathon at work and Myth at work and online. I played Halo intensely for a couple of weeks and then an hour here and there after the kids were in bed and the TV was back downstairs.

Now I am playing "Return To Castle Wolfenstein" which is a really awesome game. It is on par with Marathon and Myth in my opinion as far as the fun factor and the amount of time playing it. I would be playing Halo all the time now if it was online and for the Mac/PC. I visit rampancy.net and HBO maybe once a day or once every other day, looking for any news on the Mac/PC version of Halo. I would so love to see Friday status reports from Matt. In the meantime it would be nice to have a mailing list that sent out an email once Matt started talking about the Mac/PC version of Halo. Is there anything like that available that I have overlooked?

::Wanders away from the podium and out the door::

narcogen's picture

In reply to: I'm a medic, I need ammo!

Saber wrote on Tuesday, 04/16/2002 - 8:31 pm:

: ::Meanders across empty room to the podium::
:
: Like a lot of people, I have waited a long time for Halo.
: I got an XBox and a copy of Halo a while back, played
: through it several times on the various difficulty settings,
: and am still waiting on Halo. I loved the game on the XBox
: but I am mostly an online gamer and prefer a keyboard and
: mouse for shooter and realtime strategy games. Now I am
: waiting on the Mac/PC version of the game.

Me, too, on nearly every point. If I was in North American on a good broadband connection, I'd probably have tried one of the Xbox Gateway programs, but online play without any chat facility seems a little lacking.
:
: Halo was a lot of fun but my situation doesn't lend itself
: to sitting in front of a TV with a bunch of friends playing
: head-2-head. I'm married with 3 kids and can't just sit
: down and play Halo. When I first got the game, I grabbed
: the TV and took it to my room and played through it several
: times. My wife and I played through as well. But now the
: game is just sitting and collecting dust.

Your wife plays Halo? You lucky bastard... :)
:
: So I am waiting for the Mac/PC version in order to get
: interested in playing Halo again. With Marathon and Myth I
: got more than a year of enjoyment out of each game. I
: played Marathon at work and Myth at work and online. I
: played Halo intensely for a couple of weeks and then an hour
: here and there after the kids were in bed and the TV was
: back downstairs.
:
: Now I am playing "Return To Castle Wolfenstein" which is a
: really awesome game. It is on par with Marathon and Myth in
: my opinion as far as the fun factor and the amount of time
: playing it.

Wow... really?

For me, the story in Marathon and Myth (as well as Halo) was a big part of the enjoyment, and I've always found that element lacking in Id software games (Doom, Quake, et al.)

I would be playing Halo all the time now if it
: was online and for the Mac/PC. I visit rampancy.net and HBO
: maybe once a day or once every other day, looking for any
: news on the Mac/PC version of Halo.

Thanks for visiting every day, knew those hits were coming from somewhere :)

Incidentally, we are going to be getting back into a habit of regular newsposting, but the problem we have right now is the same what that you have.

HBO has done an absolutely bang-up job covering the conceivable community features for Xbox Halo-- tips and tricks, fan fiction and movies, easter eggs. Without gameplay films or network play or mods, there's a lot of stuff that a site could talk about that just doesn't exist. Plus, they started the ball rolling on those things while R.net was on extended hiatus due to personal and then technical reasons.

From the poll results, it seems like those who visit R.net now and have been visiting in the past are still looking forward to Mac/PC Halo, and to some extent Phoenix.

But right now there just isn't a lot of news on that front.

I would so love to see
: Friday status reports from Matt. In the meantime it would
: be nice to have a mailing list that sent out an email once
: Matt started talking about the Mac/PC version of Halo. Is
: there anything like that available that I have overlooked?

I'd like both of those things as well :)



Narcogen


Rampant for over se7en years.



Anonymous's picture

In reply to: Re: I'm a medic, I need ammo!

narcogen wrote on Wednesday, 04/17/2002 - 12:25 am:

: Saber wrote on Tuesday, 04/16/2002 - 8:31 pm:
:
: : ::Meanders across empty room to the podium::
: :
: : Like a lot of people, I have waited a long time for
: Halo.
: : I got an XBox and a copy of Halo a while back, played
: : through it several times on the various difficulty
: settings,
: : and am still waiting on Halo. I loved the game on the
: XBox
: : but I am mostly an online gamer and prefer a keyboard
: and
: : mouse for shooter and realtime strategy games. Now I
: am
: : waiting on the Mac/PC version of the game.
:
: Me, too, on nearly every point. If I was in North American
: on a good broadband connection, I'd probably have tried one
: of the Xbox Gateway programs, but online play without any
: chat facility seems a little lacking.

::Jumps and spins around::
::Walks back in room wondering how he could have missed seeing Narcogen seated in the front row::

Keyboard chat is definitely another problem with consoles. I understand the reasoning for not shipping the XBox with a keyboard, mouse and controller, and for not having VGA support, but I totally disagree with that line of reasoning. I think sales would have more than doubled for the XBox if it had these extras.

: :
: : Halo was a lot of fun but my situation doesn't lend
: itself
: : to sitting in front of a TV with a bunch of friends
: playing
: : head-2-head. I'm married with 3 kids and can't just
: sit
: : down and play Halo. When I first got the game, I
: grabbed
: : the TV and took it to my room and played through it
: several
: : times. My wife and I played through as well. But now
: the
: : game is just sitting and collecting dust.
:
: Your wife plays Halo? You lucky bastard... :)

Heh. Yeah, she rocks. We were able to pretend we were John and Linda. Turns out Linda just needed a couple of medpacks. (Hoping you read "Halo: The Fall of Reach")

: :
: : So I am waiting for the Mac/PC version in order to get
: : interested in playing Halo again. With Marathon and
: Myth I
: : got more than a year of enjoyment out of each game. I
: : played Marathon at work and Myth at work and online.
: I
: : played Halo intensely for a couple of weeks and then an
: hour
: : here and there after the kids were in bed and the TV
: was
: : back downstairs.
: :
: : Now I am playing "Return To Castle Wolfenstein" which is
: a
: : really awesome game. It is on par with Marathon and
: Myth in
: : my opinion as far as the fun factor and the amount of
: time
: : playing it.
:
: Wow... really?
:
: For me, the story in Marathon and Myth (as well as Halo)
: was a big part of the enjoyment, and I've always found that
: element lacking in Id software games (Doom, Quake, et al.)

For me, I like a good story in a game, but I am happy to play a game with no story if it is fun to play. I played multi-player Marathon before I played the single player game, so I was hooked well before I even realized it had such a great story. I have since played through single player Marathon maybe 3 or 4 times. My favorite character was Durandal, which is one of the big reasons I like this site since it has rampancy in the name.

With Myth, it was all about the gameplay for me. I was interested in fantasy as a kid but switched over to sci-fi as an adult. I didn't really pay attention to the Myth story.

I bought Return to Castle Wolfenstein for the multiplayer experience only. I was surprised when it actually contained a good single player experience and story. What I love about the game is the teamwork, the self-sacrifice, the setting, etc. My first experience with the game involved a beach scene. I remember hiding behind concrete pillars, running past barbed wire, hearing guns and explosions, men barking out orders or dying. I took a hit and fell to the ground in a concrete bunker and a medic came running at me with a needle in his hand. His name was Private Ryan and he healed me. I laughed very hard at that whole experience and I have been hooked ever since.

So for me, Marathon, Myth, and Wolfenstein are in the same category in that they have an awesome multiplayer experience.

: I would be playing Halo all the time now if it
: : was online and for the Mac/PC. I visit rampancy.net and
: HBO
: : maybe once a day or once every other day, looking for
: any
: : news on the Mac/PC version of Halo.
:
: Thanks for visiting every day, knew those hits were coming
: from somewhere :)

LOL.

: Incidentally, we are going to be getting back into a habit
: of regular newsposting, but the problem we have right now is
: the same what that you have.
:
: HBO has done an absolutely bang-up job covering the
: conceivable community features for Xbox Halo-- tips and
: tricks, fan fiction and movies, easter eggs. Without
: gameplay films or network play or mods, there's a lot of
: stuff that a site could talk about that just doesn't exist.
: Plus, they started the ball rolling on those things while
: R.net was on extended hiatus due to personal and then
: technical reasons.
:
: From the poll results, it seems like those who visit R.net
: now and have been visiting in the past are still looking
: forward to Mac/PC Halo, and to some extent Phoenix.
:
: But right now there just isn't a lot of news on that
: front.

It will be nice when Phoenix info becomes available. If Phoenix is even a little Myth-like or realtime strategy-like, I wonder how in the world they are going to get the XBox controller to work well with it.

: I would so love to see
: : Friday status reports from Matt. In the meantime it
: would
: : be nice to have a mailing list that sent out an email
: once
: : Matt started talking about the Mac/PC version of Halo.
: Is
: : there anything like that available that I have
: overlooked?
:
: I'd like both of those things as well :)
:
:


Narcogen

Anonymous's picture

In reply to: I'm a medic, I need ammo!

Ok... I'm not really an engineer. But I play one on RtCW.... well the test demo that is.
Unfortunatly, there seems to be something odd going on at activision. The had the final version of RtCW for how many months? And yet they just won't let it go gold.... westlake isn't making any coding changes.... so theres probably some politicking going on.

I too look forward to Mac Halo. I played a 4 player game on someone's TV... it's just not the same without chat and your own screen so you can do stealth stuff.

Anonymous's picture

In reply to: I'm an engineer, plz shoot me

Gastropod wrote on Wednesday, 04/17/2002 - 3:23 am:

: Ok... I'm not really an engineer. But I play one on
: RtCW.... well the test demo that is.
: Unfortunatly, there seems to be something odd going on at
: activision. The had the final version of RtCW for how many
: months? And yet they just won't let it go gold.... westlake
: isn't making any coding changes.... so theres probably some
: politicking going on.
:
:
: I too look forward to Mac Halo. I played a 4 player game
: on someone's TV... it's just not the same without chat and
: your own screen so you can do stealth stuff.

Yeah It sucks having the other peeps see your screen sometimes :)

Anonymous's picture

In reply to: I'm an engineer, plz shoot me

Gastropod wrote on Wednesday, 04/17/2002 - 3:23 am:

: Ok... I'm not really an engineer. But I play one on
: RtCW.... well the test demo that is.
: Unfortunatly, there seems to be something odd going on at
: activision. The had the final version of RtCW for how many
: months? And yet they just won't let it go gold.... westlake
: isn't making any coding changes.... so theres probably some
: politicking going on.

I wonder. There was recently a patch for the PC version so maybe they wanted to incorporate those fixes in the Mac version. It would be a drag to install the game and go online and not be able to see any of the servers.

I just went to insidemacgames to check on the gold status and ran into this article:

http://www.insidemacgames.com/news/story.php?ArticleID=5248

(sorry, don't know how to make that a link)

It looks like it has gone gold now but the system requirements will be high. As in a Rage 128 is not enough unless you have OSX.

Anonymous's picture

In reply to: I'm an engineer, plz shoot me

Although am a big fan of on-line gaming, I disagree with the oft-used argument that Xbox HALO bites because "there's no mouse/keyboard" and "everyone can see me". While the family situation lends itself to holing yourself up in the bedroom with the warm glow of a 17" monitor, for others the beauty of LANning lies in instant communication and true teamwork. So many times am I on-line in a CTF game and half my "team" is dicking around or throwing profanities up on screen that I just quit out and watch old repeats of Seinfeld. I mean, really, is that why I'm on-line? I'm looking for a good team game and today that is rare.

In rebuttle to the split-screen conundrum, if you live in a small town or lack the social skills to find other gamers (specifically Xbox owners) then I can see where split screen would suck (I remember the Goldeneye days of the N64). However, HALO for Xbox was meant to be LINKED for killer LAN team play (not to mention a MUCH cheaper route than your typical computer LAN $1000+ versus $350). I can attest to the fact that LAN gatherings for HALO are truly a gamer's wet dream as I host a weekly set-up in my roomy garage through the 7th Column (and I helped organize the recent Battle of the Bay LAN 2002). An 8 vs 8 matchup split with two players per screen on my four 27" television rig with teamates screaming tactics at you while your enemy wails in pain from the cleverly planned and organized strike is something to behold. On-line just can't match the same sense of organization and team work of a LAN.

I guess what I'm saying is that the communication on-line needs some improvement before I'll be going back. It's just too tiring trying to type plans to teamates who don't care and then getting popped while you try to complete a string of text. I'll stick to the weekend LAN parties - they're much more social anyway and the trash talk can't be beat when your looking across the room at the bastard who just sniped you from across Blood Gulch.

narcogen's picture

In reply to: Re: On-Line vs LAN

vector40 wrote on Wednesday, 04/24/2002 - 10:33 pm:

: :( You stole my kill!

Quit hogging 'em all!



Narcogen


Rampant for over se7en years.



Anonymous's picture

Any known if will be possible play Halo with mouse and keyboard with an adaptor for the xbox ports , and if will be in the future a pach of the game for play at 60Hz in the pal version of the game ?

Bye !!!

Anonymous's picture

http://asia.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/central/04/18/afghanistan.canada/index.html

I was dismayed by this at first, but as I've read more, I've become a little ticked off.

Four more allied troops killed by USAF friendly fire, several more badly injured. It's great that the USAF can drop a laser guided bomb into a cave entrace from thousands of feet away, but damn, it'd be great if they could get some better target identification going on.

At first, I could accept that accidents happen. However, that has started to hold water like a sieve. The pilot claims he was fired upon. By Canadian troops engaged in an exercise in a theatre where the enemy has no aircraft? Jokes about Canadian soldiers aside, I can't believe that they'd stop what they're doing to open fire (with assault rifles) on a target which could not have belonged to the enemy.

A hostile third party has been suggested as well, but if they were close enough for the pilot to mistake the Canadians as the source, it seems unlikely that their gunfire would not have been heard.

Claims of self defense seem absurd in this case. It looks to me like the pilot saw gunfire on the ground, and either panicked or decided without consideration that he was going to drop a bomb. That or the USAF is setting up the pilot to take the fall after authorizing him to fire on the target without the invented "if in self-defense" clause.

I'm more inclined to blame the pilot in this incident. The B-52 bombing friendly positions I can accept as an accident. The strike on the UN convoy sounds like a mistake from a higher level. This time, though, the pilot error figures prominently in their explanations, whereas in past incidents the guilt has been nicely anonymized. It suggests, to me, that the USAF isn't hanging him out to try completely without merit.

Better end this before I start ranting... here's hoping the USAF can get it's act together and spend more time identifying the target before lunging to kill it.

-rex

vector40's picture

In reply to: Canada Joins Axis of Evil?

: Better end this before I start ranting... here's hoping
: the USAF can get it's act together and spend more time
: identifying the target before lunging to kill it.

While they're shooting at you? :)

Daydream:

::pilot flying in WWII bomber, flak bursting around him, leaning head out window and shouting down to enemy gunners at AA turrets: "Can I see some ID, please?"::

Good Ol' Ho-Hum
narcogen's picture

In reply to: Re: Canada Joins Axis of Evil?

vector40 wrote on Friday, 04/19/2002 - 9:16 pm:

: : Better end this before I start ranting... here's
: hoping
: : the USAF can get it's act together and spend more time
: : identifying the target before lunging to kill it.
:
: While they're shooting at you? :)
:
: Daydream:
:
: ::pilot flying in WWII bomber, flak bursting around him,
: leaning head out window and shouting down to enemy gunners
: at AA turrets: "Can I see some ID, please?"::
:

Hmm. Any possibility the Canadians *did* shoot at the plane because they thought it was part of the exercise?



Narcogen


Rampant for over se7en years.



Stinger's picture

In reply to: Canada Joins Axis of Evil?

They're in a war over there Rex, not splashing each other in the pool. Mistakes happen, by humans in the middle of it, by humans watching over them, and by the humans we put our faith in to make technology safe for us and deadly for our enemies. It's not an excuse, it's the truth. These are guys your age, making life-and-death decisions, often without the benefit of the 20-20 hindsight you're now employing. "It looks to me like" is exactly the problem... you weren't there, you didn't see a thing. You don't know what it looks like at all.

Alternately, you're right on, and the pilot was really just out there to blow up some Canadians just for the hell of it. That is, after all, what your argument amounts to. If that doesn't sound absurd, check yourself into a clinic, 'cause the US is not out to get you, we're not watching your every move, we don't know what you had for breakfast.

My condolences to the familes of the men who were killed and injured. Nothing can replace the lost, and no explaination will ever be good enough. They died serving their country and protecting our freedom, and for that I am sincerely grateful, regardless of their nationality. I hope nothing like this ever happens again.

--Stinger

Anonymous's picture

In reply to: Uh, yeah

Right about now, I doubt there are too many men in the Princess Patricia's who feel very good about having the USAF "watching over them". Chalk it up as a mistake if you will, but from what I've read, it sounded more like incompetence.

Stinger wrote on Saturday, 04/20/2002 - 1:22 am:

: They're in a war over there Rex, not splashing each other
: in the pool. Mistakes happen, by humans in the middle of it,
: by humans watching over them, and by the humans we put our
: faith in to make technology safe for us and deadly for our
: enemies. It's not an excuse, it's the truth. These are guys
: your age, making life-and-death decisions, often without the
: benefit of the 20-20 hindsight you're now employing. "It
: looks to me like" is exactly the problem... you weren't
: there, you didn't see a thing. You don't know what it looks
: like at all.
:
: Alternately, you're right on, and the pilot was really
: just out there to blow up some Canadians just for the hell
: of it. That is, after all, what your argument amounts to. If
: that doesn't sound absurd, check yourself into a clinic,
: 'cause the US is not out to get you, we're not watching your
: every move, we don't know what you had for breakfast.
:
: My condolences to the familes of the men who were killed
: and injured. Nothing can replace the lost, and no
: explaination will ever be good enough. They died serving
: their country and protecting our freedom, and for that I am
: sincerely grateful, regardless of their nationality. I hope
: nothing like this ever happens again.
:
: --Stinger

vector40's picture

In reply to: Re: Uh, yeah

Pythos wrote on Sunday, 04/21/2002 - 3:29 pm:

: Right about now, I doubt there are too many men in the
: Princess Patricia's who feel very good about having the USAF
: "watching over them". Chalk it up as a mistake if you will,
: but from what I've read, it sounded more like incompetence.

There's a difference?

Incompetence breeds mistakes.

Good Ol' Ho-Hum
narcogen's picture

In reply to: Re: Uh, yeah

vector40 wrote on Sunday, 04/21/2002 - 10:42 pm:

: Pythos wrote on Sunday, 04/21/2002 - 3:29 pm:
:
: : Right about now, I doubt there are too many men in the
: : Princess Patricia's who feel very good about having the
: USAF
: : "watching over them". Chalk it up as a mistake if you
: will,
: : but from what I've read, it sounded more like
: incompetence.
:
: There's a difference?
:
: Incompetence breeds mistakes.

Well... I think he meant making mistakes being SOP rather than an exception to the rules. Even competent people sometimes make mistakes, whereas incompetent people rarely do otherwise.



Narcogen


Rampant for over se7en years.



Anonymous's picture

In reply to: Uh, yeah

Stinger wrote on Saturday, 04/20/2002 - 1:22 am:

: They're in a war over there Rex, not splashing each other
: in the pool. Mistakes happen, by humans in the middle of it,
: by humans watching over them, and by the humans we put our
: faith in to make technology safe for us and deadly for our
: enemies. It's not an excuse, it's the truth.

Indeed, mistakes happen. But the man who shoots his son because he thought he was a midnight intruder still has to answer for his actions. "Sorry, it was an accident" does not absolve someone of all responsibility.

: These are guys
: your age, making life-and-death decisions, often without the
: benefit of the 20-20 hindsight you're now employing.

These are also guys who have recieved years of training, who are supported by people with many more years of experience, and who wield lethal force.

It's easy to say "hindsight is 20/20" and dismiss my ranting. But apparently this isn't the case, as this is the third or fourth time the USAF has hit a friendly target. If hindsight is so good, you'd think that they would be taking special precautions against repeating these mistakes.

: "It
: looks to me like" is exactly the problem... you weren't
: there, you didn't see a thing. You don't know what it looks
: like at all.

"It looks to me like" is me expressing my take on the situation. Is this suddenly a problem? Note that I am not calling for punitive action, for the pilot to be thrown out on his ass or anything like that.

I wasn't there, I didn't see a thing, but the pound or two of brain between my ears enables me to make some speculations based on the information that has surfaced since. Your suggestion that, since I lack 100% of the facts involved, I should clam up and not speculate about it at all is absurd.

The USAF has a problem with identifying their targets. I think I can safely can derive that much from their repeated bombing of friendly targets.

: Alternately, you're right on, and the pilot was really
: just out there to blow up some Canadians just for the hell
: of it. That is, after all, what your argument amounts to. If
: that doesn't sound absurd, check yourself into a clinic,
: 'cause the US is not out to get you, we're not watching your
: every move, we don't know what you had for breakfast.

Perhaps you're reading a different post, but "just out there to blow up some Canadians just for the hell of it" was in no way my argument.

I suggested two things: either that the pilot panicked and responded rashly, or that the pilot wanted to strike a blow against the enemy and did so rashly. He should have known, but obviously did not know that those were allied troops on the ground--nowhere did I suggest that the pilot knew he was bombing allied troops "for the hell of it".

-rex

mnemesis's picture

In reply to: Re: Uh, yeah

: The USAF has a problem with identifying their targets. I
: think I can safely can derive that much from their repeated
: bombing of friendly targets.

I wouldn't say the USAF has a problem, judging by these numbers.

April 9, 2002 - "More than 22,000 bombs and missiles have been dropped since the war began October 7. The Air Force dropped about 75 percent of all weapons."

I would never want to be the one to officially determine just what number constitutes "acceptable losses," but, nevertheless, I don't think that 4 out of over 16,000 should be considered a problem...

vector40's picture

In reply to: Re: Uh, yeah

: I would never want to be the one to officially
: determine just what number constitutes "acceptable losses,"
: but, nevertheless, I don't think that 4 out of over 16,000
: should be considered a problem...

Agreed. Proportionally, it's insignificant. And while it's true that, in an ideal world, this sort of thing would NEVER take place — you have to accept that shit happens. And shit happening at percentages like THAT is considered a blessing in some circles.

Good Ol' Ho-Hum
narcogen's picture

In reply to: Re: Uh, yeah

vector40 wrote on Monday, 04/22/2002 - 10:12 pm:

: : I would never want to be the one to officially
: : determine just what number constitutes "acceptable
: losses,"
: : but, nevertheless, I don't think that 4 out of over
: 16,000
: : should be considered a problem...
:
: Agreed. Proportionally, it's insignificant. And while it's
: true that, in an ideal world, this sort of thing would NEVER
: take place — you have to accept that shit happens. And shit
: happening at percentages like THAT is considered a blessing
: in some circles.

Well... I think you need to look at that with a slightly different perspective.

Percentage wise it seems insignificant. But the whole picture isn't there. Out of all the weapons used, some percentage hit, some miss, some miss and cause collateral damage, and some miss and result in friendly fire.

Combine the latter three categories and you've got a number much higher than four.

And in the latest incident, you've got friendly fire happening in a designated area for exercises by pilots engaged in a routine patrol-- not in combat manuevers.

I think that while overall the performance of modern weapon systems (and their operators) is pretty good, this particular incident stands apart as one that was very likely preventable. Either the Canadians *did* fire on the aircraft, in which case they were stupid, or the USAF pilots made a rather large mistake.

Either way, I think the circumstances make the event rise above the level of acceptable friendly fire/collateral damage, which I think was rex's main point.



Narcogen


Rampant for over se7en years.



vector40's picture

In reply to: Lies, damned lies, statistics

Understood. And I'm certainly not claiming that it was an equipment failure or something like that.

In all probabily, signs do point toward human error.

I'm just saying that humans do err :)

Good Ol' Ho-Hum
Anonymous's picture

Wow, it seems like this place changed quite a bit since the last time I came. The last thing I remember was Halo being released and Noctavis moving on to something new...

I thought it would've been nice to come and say hi to the old group. Let's hope there's still some of you out there... and hope some still remember me ;-)

Me? I've been switching from game to game checking out new stuff, and coding software with a bunch of friends for a life. Man I still don't know what Halo is like... I've never played it! Should I just run with my wallet to go and buy an X-Box?

Btw, is Halo still gonna be released for the PC / Mac market? Let's hope so!

Decameron,

narcogen's picture

In reply to: Back

Decameron wrote on Saturday, 04/20/2002 - 11:05 am:

: Wow, it seems like this place changed quite a bit since
: the last time I came. The last thing I remember was Halo
: being released and Noctavis moving on to something new...

Hmm. To fill in the gap:

Narc and Acrappa both had personal schedules that precluded working much on R.net during the two months after Halo's release.

In the three months since then, we've had various DNS-related administrative problems (now resolved).

In the meantime, HBO has done such a bang-up job of covering what needed covering re: Halo (reviews, tips, tricks, easter eggs) that there's not much we could do without being a "me too" site with the time we've got.

The current poll (and the previous one) were designed to get an idea of where we should go next-- and it seems that the concensus is that people are still interested in Mac/PC Halo even if they've played it on the Xbox, and that there's more interest in Bungie's next product, Xbox or not, than there is in other Xbox developers or even other Mac/PC developers.

So we're still a bit slow while there's little news on either of those two fronts, but that looks like what our future will be.

: I thought it would've been nice to come and say hi to the
: old group. Let's hope there's still some of you out
: there... and hope some still remember me ;-)
:
: Me? I've been switching from game to game checking out new
: stuff, and coding software with a bunch of friends for a
: life. Man I still don't know what Halo is like... I've
: never played it! Should I just run with my wallet to go and
: buy an X-Box?

Well, depends how much money is burning a hole in said wallet :)

For my money, Halo (while not everything everyone might have hoped) is a great game and just about worth getting an Xbox for all by itself. YMMV.
:
: Btw, is Halo still gonna be released for the PC / Mac
: market? Let's hope so!

All indications point to yes-- Matt S. and others have reiterated it several times recently. It is apparently being worked on actively now. There's been no announcement of a porting house being involved, so my guess is that they are doing it internally, which I think is probably a good choice.



Narcogen


Rampant for over se7en years.



Anonymous's picture

In reply to: Hi Dec!

Great, thanks for the info. I for sure, am hoping to play the Mac/PC version when it comes out. I also hope they decide to add more stuff into it. A good idea IMHO would be to follow the (eventual) development of the game with r.net.

Anyway, time to go to bed here ; )
Decameron

PS: who are the other admins? (if any)

Anonymous's picture

In reply to: Hi Dec!

Heya Narc. Stopped by tonight on a lark, and I'm glad I did. It's the first time I've seen the site up and running in a long time. Hooray!

I'd echo your sentiment about Halo: it's the game for Xbox as far as I'm concerned. I've played a half dozen other Xbox games, and nothing has compared. In fact, Halo was so good I didn't mind the fact that the controls are inelegant for a shooter.

Hope you guys have the energy, interest, and finances to stick around for PC/Mac Halo, and for Bungie's next game.

Hear anything from Noc? I was thinking about you guys recently. Are you still in the east?

narcogen's picture

In reply to: Re: Hi Dec!

rojay wrote on Thursday, 04/25/2002 - 10:36 pm:

: Heya Narc. Stopped by tonight on a lark, and I'm glad I
: did. It's the first time I've seen the site up and running
: in a long time. Hooray!

Hooray for us!
:
: I'd echo your sentiment about Halo: it's the game for Xbox
: as far as I'm concerned. I've played a half dozen other
: Xbox games, and nothing has compared. In fact, Halo was so
: good I didn't mind the fact that the controls are inelegant
: for a shooter.
:
: Hope you guys have the energy, interest, and finances to
: stick around for PC/Mac Halo, and for Bungie's next game.

We do and we will.
:
: Hear anything from Noc? I was thinking about you guys
: recently. Are you still in the east?

Noc's been working a lot but still hangs out at RHL sometimes.

I'm still in the far east (central asia) but AFAIK Noc's still staying put in Utah.



Narcogen


Rampant for over se7en years.



Anonymous's picture

In reply to: Re: Hi Dec!

narcogen wrote on Friday, 04/26/2002 - 3:11 am:

: rojay wrote on Thursday, 04/25/2002 - 10:36 pm:
:
: : Heya Narc. Stopped by tonight on a lark, and I'm glad
: I
: : did. It's the first time I've seen the site up and
: running
: : in a long time. Hooray!
:
: Hooray for us!
: :
: : I'd echo your sentiment about Halo: it's the game for
: Xbox
: : as far as I'm concerned. I've played a half dozen
: other
: : Xbox games, and nothing has compared. In fact, Halo was
: so
: : good I didn't mind the fact that the controls are
: inelegant
: : for a shooter.
: :
: : Hope you guys have the energy, interest, and finances
: to
: : stick around for PC/Mac Halo, and for Bungie's next
: game.
:
: We do and we will.
: :
: : Hear anything from Noc? I was thinking about you guys
: : recently. Are you still in the east?
:
: Noc's been working a lot but still hangs out at RHL
: sometimes.
:
: I'm still in the far east (central asia) but AFAIK Noc's
: still staying put in Utah.
:
:


Narcogen

I'm getting "remote host refused connection" errors this morning. Thought I'd pop on and say hello in (virtual) person, but no love.

I still have an account, no?

narcogen's picture

In reply to: Is RHL down?

rojay wrote on Monday, 04/29/2002 - 11:07 am:

: I'm getting "remote host refused connection" errors this
: morning. Thought I'd pop on and say hello in (virtual)
: person, but no love.
:
: I still have an account, no?

Try connecting as a guest.

We were never able to get the account info off the old server, so everyone is on as a guest right now.

But AFAIK there's been no downtime recently.



Narcogen


Rampant for over se7en years.



rojay's picture

In reply to: Nope... RHL up

Odd. I couldn't connect this a.m. either.

woo

narcogen's picture

In reply to: omg IP ban mb!?!

rojay wrote on Wednesday, 05/1/2002 - 3:42 pm:

: Odd. I couldn't connect this a.m. either.
:
Still up... I'm there now, and Astro and Rex and Mumbles and MM and Angus (I feel like I'm reciting the Romper Room routine).

Perhaps try connecting to it as synfibers.com? Make sure you're connecting as a guest and not with a bookmark that has an account in it? Try a different client?

There are currently no IP bans on that server, not even the ones we put on the old box.



Narcogen


Rampant for over se7en years.



Anonymous's picture

In reply to: Re: omg IP ban mb!?!

: There are currently no IP bans on that server, not even
: the ones we put on the old box.
:
Well, I was sorta kidding about that. I don't think I've given anyone cause to ban me ;)

I've tried on both my office and home computers, running HL 1.8. I'll try again, but really, I just wanted to say "Hi" to you guys, and I suppose I've accomplished that, eh?

Woo!

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