jnewl

I've purchased many dozens of things online, including a fair number of downloadable games. I have never had a problem. I wish I could say the same for my physical purchases. As long as the site you're buying from is secure--and pretty much all of them are these days--you have very little to worry about. It's infinitely easier for someone to steal your credit card info by looking over your shoulder in the store than it is for them to hack it from a secure site online. However, if you don't have a firewall and don't know how to keep your info from being stored in a cookie, don't do it. Your chances of being hit are still low, but I don't want to be the guy who told you to go ahead if you do get ripped.

I'm happy to hear future games will be offered as online downloads. I'm very comfortable with that delivery method and, like others here, actually prefer it. Bring it on!

It's not buried. It's right there in front of your face. What you need to do is quit being intimidated by the supposedly insurmountable learning curve and play the damned game. What you need to know to get started isn't that difficult.

Aha. Thank You.

Last night I saw a ship identified as "MUL/RAI" but I don't see a race listed anywhere (looked in manual, appendices, version control file, and revised manual file) that begins with the letters "Mul." What the heck is that? Also, just for record: both the version control file and the revised manual file for BCMG state that the new save game key combo is "Alt-S." Obviously, this is wrong, as Alt-S is the command to bring up the Tacops computer. The save game command is "Ctl-S."

quote:Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr: quote:Originally posted by mudpuppy: Is this right? Should I be hearing the missiles like that?Yes, because they are not subject to the same Db cueing. In UC this has been removed so that missiles no longer make a sound when they self-destruct. Gotcha. Thankee much for the reply.

Ok, I read in the FAQ for BCMG that sounds from sources more than 75km away should be inaudible, but I am always able to hear missiles exploding in my current sector, no matter what the distance. They always sound like they're right outside my ship, even when they're hundreds of thousands of km away. I thought this was just the way the game was designed, but after reading the FAQ I realized it's ONLY missiles exploding that I can hear; I don't seem to hear ships when they explode far away, for example. Is this right? Should I be hearing the missiles like that? I have an Audigy Gamer with current drivers, but BCMG has always sounded this way since I got it back in April (or whenever), even with the previous driver set.

quote:Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr: Try this please activate Tacops and press numeric 5 key for a top-down view. Make sure you have the grid enabled (it is by default) set four waypoints as follows. #1 on the top-left most corner of the grid #2 on the top-right most corner of the grid, #3 and #4 on the other two corners. The orders for 1-3 should be Proceed To Next and #4 should be Repeat Actions Return to the bridge and (1) give the CC the Resume Waypoints order (2) engage the A/P Return to Tacops top-down view and note the ranges from the CC to the waypoints Tell me what happens. Ok. Followed your instructions to the letter, but the same thing happened. The autopilot flew toward WP1, but only at normal speed. I was not able to figure out how to see the ranges from the CC to the waypoints in Tacops. All that showed were what appeared to be the ranges to the edge of the grid in the due North, East, and South directions (no West for some reason). Those ranges were as follows: N: 2116464 E: 2121296 S: 2118886 I could see the ranges from the CC to the waypoints in the NID, however. These were given as: WP1: 1501475 WP2: 1489240 WP3: 1495366 WP4: 1505606

Wow! Not only do I have to deal with those rotten Gammulans, freakin' Al Qaeda is loose out here, too? (It's seriously cool to find out that this is a feature and not a bug, though. I love games with unpredictable bits like that.)

Ok, up 'til now, I've been towing disabled enemy craft with my CC, but last night I decided to tow an enemy fighter with a shuttle. So I send out the shuttle and it hooks up with the fighter properly. Then I order it to deliver the fighter to GalCom HQ. All goes fine at first. The shuttle HJ's to GCHQ as it should. However, just as it emerges from Hyperspace, BLAMMO! The shuttle and its towed fighter explode in a spectacular display of interstellar fireworks. My question: did they get fried by GCHQ or the nearby ODS, and if so, why? When I tow stuff there with my CC, I don't get attacked like that. (Or, if it wasn't GCHQ, what the heck was it? A cloaked ship maybe?)

quote:Originally posted by dennymala: Are you sure that your hyperdrive engine is charged...? I've done this before and it works properly if the waypoint if far enough to hyperdrive to it. Pretty sure I checked everything, but I'm a known dumbass so I'll check again UPDATE: Nope. Hyperdrive is fully charged. I set three WP's, all waaaay out there, but Mr. Autopilot just pointed toward WP1 and chugged along at normal engine speed. (Tried Shift-9 manually and that didn't work, either. You don't even get the "Unable to engage" message, since you can't target the waypoints. You just get...nothing.) [ 12-28-2003, 12:25 PM: Message edited by: mudpuppy ]

quote:Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr: Trading was just something I threw in because it was always the staple of space sims (except for the WC series of course).I liked what you said before: that you put in trading so we'd be able to buy gas (cue image of Starcarrier sitting dead in space with commander outside kicking the hull...) quote:Space sims are dead. Pure and simple. If I ever do another one, it won't be for another 4-8 years at the most. Even the sequel (or add-on) to UC, will probably see no new addition to the space sim aspects - except probably the ability to construct bases on planets and in space. The trick, in my opinion, is to incorporate a new and interesting gameplay model into a space sim. That will bring the customers running back. For instance, what I think would be cool would be to make a completely diplomacy-driven game, as opposed to, say, the trading-driven game that seems to be everyone's been-there-done-that model of choice. (And when I say a diplomacy-driven game, I'm talking about a deep and convincing diplomacy/relationships model; not the superficial pap that usually passes for diplomacy in games.) Anyway, I hope you're not saying that BCO is dead? Did I miss that announcement?

If you have the money, get BCMG now and UC later. BCMG is the last "pure" BC game and it's quite good. UC has had its focus adjusted a bit, which doesn't mean it's going to be a bad game, but only that it's had its focus adjusted a bit. (Unfortunately, I can't comment much on UC since I haven't catalogued the changes in depth like some people have; for me, it's a must-buy no matter what gets done to it--short of some major catastrophe.) Anyway, if the proprieter of this fine establishment is a bit biased, he's nevertheless right for all that. BCMG is a superior game to X2, except in the areas of trade and empire-building (which BCMG was never really designed for). Particularly if immersion is important to you (as it is to me) you'll want to go with BCMG. I currently have four discs sitting on top of my computer: BCMG, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, X2: The Threat, and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. All of the latter three have received extremely high marks from both gamers and critics, and all are indeed fine games. The fact is, however, that the game I want to fire up every time I sit down is: BCMG. As for BCMG's graphics: I actually prefer its look to that of the fancier games. There comes a point where so many atmospheric effects and gee-whiz graphical tricks simply become too much, and games like X2 have reached that point, imo. They leave no room for the imagination to breathe. BCMG strikes a good balance in that regard, I think (although round planets would be nice ).

np. I understand it's not a feature of BCM/G, so I wasn't suggesting it was bugged. I think it would be great if it somehow magically showed up in UC, though