Jez

My understanding is that quick save has been removed as an option. Too unstable. Try pressing ALT-G to save and then Resume - to carry on. Never had a problem with any save games doing this.

I regret to say having purchased Doom3 and Painkiller at roughly the same time, Doom3 pails into insignificance. Whilst the graphics are pretty, gameplay sucks. After the first few levels it seemed nothing more than a poor Half Life clone. However I wasn't aware of the mods so thanks for the heads up I will head over there sometime when I can pull myself away from attempting to ground assault an insurgent base using my Megaron - alone. Time to PTA woop some ass!

Hi Ben, I appreciate your scholarly attempt to bring light to the potential veracity of the Bible. Having recently studied Theology I must admit to have been thrown somewhat buy Jaguar's comments, though I have only recently read them, and wonder how I would have tackled his thoughts and ideas. Your attention to this topic and your persistence are laudable and I find I am learning more to add to the knowledge I have already acquired (and seemingly fogotten. ). During my studies I wrote a number of papers defending the veracity of the Bible and in particular the authorship of the books of the New Testament. I know how much time and effort goes into reaearching and writing the type of work you are presenting here. Thankyou for your efforts, I look forward to hearing more. Jez.

Don't forget that VAT is an indirect tax charged at the point of sale, currently at 17.5%. In the UK we have income tax and national insurance as direct taxation which, depending on how much you earn follows a band between 10-40% for income tax and a flat rate of about 11% (I think) for national insurance. The scale is sliding as well and you get a tax allowance which is a portion of your earnings that suffers no tax. Added to that TAX is a local council tax,also direct, which is set independantly by the local council. Currently for us that works out at about another 3% in tax. Over all we currently pay about 37% in direct taxation. Vat is also paid but only on products bought, and food, childrens's clothes etc are VAT free. Don't forget as well that we have a well established Health Care system which provides excellent health services to all, practically free, including drugs (not heroin etc by the way and only the relative wealthy pay for these and even then it's a nominal amount at that!) Furthermore we have a well developed social security system which seeks to ensure that everyone is cared for. Its flawed and doesn't always work effectively with a lot of scroungers wringing the system or acting in a fraudulent manner. But my understanding is that its better than you'll find in America, Medicare not withstanding.

Lets have a chear for the Megaron Fully upgraded with shields and armour I eat Warmongers for breakfast, Firestorms for lunch and the StormCarrier for Tea, with violons, sunflash, solnars, garids as apperitifs! Plus she can be upgraded with artifact shield and reactor upgrades. I take my Megaron into full combat, nose to nose with anything! The Megaron rules

Man Doom III was awful. Painkiller took the crown of ID for that! Having finally got my teeth into UC, other FPS games and even strategy ones that I like such as GCII seem almost lame and uninspiring. I got to the end of Painkiller, but I just can't be bothered finishing the last level, it holds no interst for me. when I sit at my desk and look at the icons on the screen many say click on me, play me, but all of them get swallowed up by the unobtrusive UC icon...and then too many hours disappear and the wife is once more threatening my game collection with a pair of man sized sissors

Just like to add my two-pence worth. I've been playing BC on ad off for years starting with the BC3K, followed by its update, although whilst I followed the development of BCMG I didn't purchase. Having made the jump to UC and finding the system similar though vastly improved I feel like an old commander picking up a shiny new toy spaceship. Haveing said all that the tutorial was excellent and fun to play through. Didn't lose a single man or machine all the way through and learned a great deal about ground operationsin FPS, one of the main areas I was completely deficient in. This game is huge, with amazing scope for the imagination. Once my cash reserves are up I'm going to find the nearest insurgent base and try a three pronged attack. Knowing my military skills I'll get thoroughly wooped but hey Fleet do the flying and the marines do the dying! [ 08-24-2004, 09:25 PM: Message edited by: Jez ]

The issue may be that when the SR is off, no power can be allocated. Because that is not the case, perhaps, and I dread to mention the word, there is a ......b...no can't say it. If as the manual suggest the SR converts solar power to a form usable by the ships systems it must surely be on for it to function. Why the different power levels exist and why you can still power the ship with the SR remains a mystery. One that I will have Kendrick investigate immediately, with his current AI he doens't do much anyway, so he as the time available!

ACM is cool, especially fleet C&C. There I was despeartely trying to keep my three dumb escorts, Vanguard, Hellguard and the other one (can't remember, Starguard?) from dying. Constantly repeating the order to escort me, as each new threat had them tearing at their leashes. As I neared the jump to Otura-9 my system goes red! Sentry, Solnar, Aestrom, and Megaron all make a beeline for me. No time to jump, ordered my escorts to jump out as I didn't trust them to not get killed. Took on the two carriers and the two cruisers with associated fighters, knocked em out one by one as they left hyperspace. The escorts are gone, don't notice whether they were destroyed or jumped as ordered. But what's this a lonely MK3 Battlecruiser - a friendly nice and green. But not only is it green, its Ter Mil !! So guess what Fleet C&C works that ship is now mine! Order it to escort me and we jump to the next system. I pick the new ACM escorts Rabid-one and Two and notice two of my previous escorts making for the space station AVINO. The Vanguard Escort has gone, don't know whether it made it to the station or was destroyed. But I order the two old escorts to resume escorting me - whcih they do and so I know have five ships escorting me having picked up a nice shiny MK3 Battlecruiser to add to the collection! Whey Hey! Fleet C&C rules - now must pick up my Roam campaign where I left it off and go destroy a few stations and get Fleet C&C. This game gets better every time!