GHighnote

Congratulations to SC & all!!! From the "old newbies" down by the airlock...

Your concerns sound so much like mine. I'm a fan of the mega-games from way back, but I don't have the time to commit to dealing with frustrations anymore, whether its getting into a game that doesn't satisfy, or spending my weekends trying to get it to run. I tried to help a friend get his Ver 1.0 running years back, and I swore a pox on everyone ever connected with this game. Even when 2.0 hit and the word in the stores and reviews said it lived up to its promises, I couldn't forget those bitter memories. Finally after a year of hearing the raves I downloaded the demo and was instantly hooked. I say all this to show how, even when I was so predisposed to dislike the game, its magic got a hold of me. You only have to play a handful of games to know what it means to have a game with a solid foundation, thorough attention to detail, and honest commitment to tech support: its all here and it shows. As far as frustrations go, the Masters who've responded have hit it on the head. It's not whether a game crashes, but how fast you can fix the problem that seems to be the norm with games of this complexity, and the variety of hardware nowadays. I have never encountered such a complete manual, complete FAQ, or complete on-line tech support as this game has. I've had my share of hangs and crashes, but they were all due to problems with my machine, not the game, and I was able to solve each problem quickly with either the FAQ or a search of the archives on this forum. The critical bottom line for me was that the occasional frustrations were never bad enough to take away from my enjoyment of the game. Enough analyzing, THIS GAME KICKS ASS! It lets me do it all, whether I'm in the mood to micromanage my BC, orchestrate a planetary assault, or just hop in an interceptor and pick a fight. IMO, if you wait for BCM you're just robbing yourself of several nights of fun & mayhem between now and December. ------------------ Cmdr. Greg 'Hosehead' Highnote UCV Hosehead "Be warned, or be Hosed!"

Been a collection attorney for 10 years. Spending so much time at BC3K that you haven't been paying your bills? Maybe the SC will let me foreclose on your Battlecruiser! ------------------ Cmdr. Greg 'Hosehead' Highnote UCV Hosehead "Be warned, or be Hosed!"

Yahoo, Mano! Thanks for reviving your efforts at the Academy! Just wanted to let you know that your carpel-tunnel fingers & monitor-dilated eyes are very appreciated. Your info & tutorials have really helped me with scaling the Everestean learning curve and appreciating the game! ------------------ Cmdr. Greg 'Hosehead' Highnote UCV Hosehead "Be warned, or be Hosed!"

Thanks, guys, for helping a newbie feel a little better in his shoes. I have crashed my BC into so many planets, moons, stations, ships, etc. that it must look like the old station wagon I learned to drive in! But at least the BC doesn't (usually) make a nice pancake the way those poor interceptors & shuttles do while I'm learning the "subtle nuances" of the TACOPS computer. P.S. Who ever wrote the OTS tutorial that uses Earth as a target is probably still laughing each time one of us newbies gives that one a go...who needs experience points anyway? I can imagine Karl Reines down there inspecting the troops as my incoming nukes show up on the radar ------------------ Cmdr. Greg 'Hosehead' Highnote UCV Hosehead "Be warned, or be Hosed!" [This message has been edited by GHighnote (edited 04-10-2000).]

36, and it feels like five of those were spent R'ingTFM! ------------------ Cmdr. Greg 'Hosehead' Highnote UCV Hosehead "Be warned, or be Hosed!"

May your universe's diapers always be filled with roses, SC! ------------------ Commander Greg 'Hosehead' Highnote UCV Hosehead "Be warned, or be Hosed!"

I can't be the only one feeling that Dick's questions about the evolution of BC have moved from interesting to near-insulting. After bringing this game back from its "coffee-mug-coaster" days of Ver 1.0 to give us the most versatile & engrossing game to ever grace a hard drive, how could the SC ever let a "doomsday fleet" take over the universe & spoil BC Online? Besides, even if the SC was too busy telling us newbies to RTFM to stop something like that from getting out of control, I'm sure there would be enough Commanders in BC Online who would come together to deal their own brand of justice to such a fleet! I think that is going to be one of the joys of BC Online--given the calibre of developer support AND players that I've experienced in this game and in the forum, we're going to have a well built, Dynamic (with a capital D, like Dick) universe, populated with players that will carry out the spirit of the game. Looking at the RPG & Fleet forums, I can't believe that any those EQ dogpilers or spoilers are going to be able to bring down BC Online. We and the SC wouldn't let it happen! Given the SC's comments about BC3020 possibly getting "absorbed" into BC Online, it sounds like the BC Online universe will be the source of the evolution of BC, just like the real universe (and its SC) are the source of our own. Poetry, baby, poetry! ------------------ Commander Greg 'Hosehead' Highnote UCV Hosehead "Be warned, or be Hosed!"

Steve, Thanks for your addition to the thread. I started running into the same crash after my saves. I reinstalled, did all the FAQ tweeks I could and it went away for a couple of days, then it came back. After reading your post, I updated my mouse driver almost two weeks ago, and haven't had a problem since! I hope Ord caught your reply.