Supreme Cmdr

quote: Originally posted by rtoolooze: I really like XP so far. I just finaly got my new system running, and was a little uneasy about leaving Win98. But now that I have, I'm glad I did. (Man I spent alot of money this time around, but if you look at my sys. profile, you'll see why ) You could've installed a dual-boot system. winXP handles that beautifully - just like win2K. Yes, I looked at your profile. Now I know why you were on bread and water for a month.

quote: Originally posted by LordDavid: The winXP Home upgrade from win9x/me is about $60. If you saved $1 a day from now until XP1 is released, you would be able to afford it. EVERYONE, consider this fair warning. The chances of this happening are 99.999% as of today. [ 01-12-2002: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]

quote: Originally posted by Mrxknown: Does anyone know what to put to hav a Guest or Prisoner on he ship I have been trying and it won't do it. I guess I haven't word it right. Did you try : // puts 2 intruders on the bridge and 1 on deck3 mid corridor create intruder 3 create intruder 3 create intruder 14 // puts the guest, John Doe, in the guest qtrs create guest "john doe" 12 [ 01-13-2002: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]

quote: Originally posted by Emmett.hendrick: Thanks SC I sent you a saved game there today. The next time you send me a saved game and email which do not adhere the rules for same, I will delete it on sight.

Get XP (home or pro) Besides, there is a very strong chance that BCM XP1 and all future BC products will NOT support WIN9x/ME.

The print mag is not out yet, but this post by Jeff caught my eye. I am looking forward to the CGW and CGM reviews with much anticipation. We already know that the graphics, sound and possibly the lack of mp are going to be an issue - but thats OK, XP1 should take care of the graphics+sound issues and the mp patch is inbound.

A UK player (S. Miller) of BCM, sent me an email advising me of the email he has composed and sent to PCZ. Considering all the other emails I have received, I suspect that the general consensus is the same. Lets see if they actually print them. Normally I find your reviews extremely fair and informative but on this occasion I feel your reviewer has possibly allowed the problems with BCMÔÇÖs predecessor to colour his judgement. I do not contest all the criticisms but I would like to address those I think are unfair. First and foremost are the criticisms of stability. The system requirements for BCM are clear. These include fully updated DX 8.1 compliant drivers for your sound and video card, latest Windows Media Player and if using a Via motherboard, latest 4 in 1 drivers. I initially had some of the problems you mention, although not as many as I had taken care to upgrade drivers but any remaining problems were solved by patching to the latest version and following the copious information on the 3000AD web pages. IÔÇÖm not a techie but had no trouble following them and since then BCM has been as solid as a rock. It seems to me the reviewerÔÇÖs machine was not BCM compliant. Unlike other developers Derek Smart is pumping out patches to fix any problems that arise and no matter what you think of the guy you can bank on the fact he is fully committed to his baby. I simply cannot believe any competent technician would take 2 days to get BCM to run. Just as likely something is wrong with the setup. Second ÔÇô complexity. Yes, it is complex and unashamably so ÔÇô it is billed as a simulation. It is Falcon 4 to any Novalogic flight-sim. The learning curve is steep but for heavens sake ÔÇô no pain, no gain. In fact the interface is a lot less complex than you make out and the web site has a host of tips to help you through it. It has taken me a few hours playing the instant action and training scenarios to get familiar with it and I do not see how the interface could be made any easier without sacrificing game elements. With it I can scan a planet for enemy bases, arm and despatch fighters for a strike mission with the correct ordnance, deploy marines for a ground assault via transporter and shuttle with a range of orders, join in with them from a first-person perspective or bring my ship in the perform strafing runs in support of the attack. It is simply wrong to suggest the interface is an amateurish effort by a programmer who is not as good as he thinks he is. The manual explains everything you need to know ÔÇô you just have to read it carefully. Third ÔÇô graphics. Okay, they are not complete state of the art but to characterise them as years out of date is wrong. They look pretty damn good to me and they more than do the job of conveying something you fail to give credit for and is unique among space sims and that is that everything is to scale. Space stations dwarf your ship and your ship dwarfs you. Compare this to the puny size of stations compared to ships in XBTF and X-tension, that you rate so highly, as do I. And planets really loom over you when you fly close by. These things add greatly to the immersion factor. Fourth ÔÇô careers. I cannot comment too much on these because I have only explored the trading and commander ones but it is true there are only military campaigns. But come on - this is primarily a battlecruiser sim and there is the whole free-form roam mode. Your criticisms of the trading career are particularly inappropriate. To begin with you may be unarmed but you have a fighter escort. The gameplay challenge is to survive and thrive in a hostile universe in which you are a very minor player. For me this is a welcome change from the X games where the easy trading and almost non-existent AI of your enemies means a threat free life. You want to be armed ÔÇô choose a military career. And a final score in the forties? That is simply ridiculous. BCM is a niche game aimed at hard-core simmers and should be scored as such not berated because it isnÔÇÖt as flash as the latest FPS clone. And since when do we start berating developers for patching things? Most games need patching and Mr SmartÔÇÖs commitment to promptly fixing every problem that comes up should be commended. In summary BCM is not the half baked amateur effort you portray. It is an ambitious and detailed simulation of a large universe driven by an AI far in excess of anything seen before in a space sim. It might not be leading edge in the FPS section but there is nothing else that even attempts to provide gameplay from commanding a carrier to taking part in a FPS ground assault. In fact there just isnÔÇÖt another true space sim. It is a sim in which you can immerse yourself, discovering new things all the time and one that puts you in unexpected and challenging situations that demand creative thought. Getting back to safety in a half destroyed ship with half your crew dead, intruders aboard can be an enjoyable challenge. The BCM universe is a great sandbox in which to play if you like detailed sims and have the imagination to roleplay your careers. As an addendum I have to say that I found the whole tone of the review needlessly hostile and generally makes me think either the reviewer or the magazine is holding a personal grudge. [ 01-12-2002: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]

Waiting for this one. It doesn't open here until the weekend I believe. Right now its on limited release in LA and NY

quote: Originally posted by Epsilon 5: I think not. ....then read the Papi's post again. Hey look! What do you know?!? Its, *gasp*, the second post in the thread.

OMG, I just got my copy of PCZ from the UK. This review is attrocious. In fact, just for laughs, I'm going to scan and upload it later today. I'm not sure if I should be happy that compared to the other reviews (even the less favorable ones), Paul Presley's (!) reads like an attack job rather than a review. I can't explain it, so, wait until you read it for yourselves later today. I am definitely of the opinion that this attack job is a direct result of that whole skirmish back in 2001 over my giving PCG a one month exclusive over the BCM demos. That prevented PCZ (who already had the demo) from carrying them until their next issue after PCG. It was a major furor (I still have all the emails) - despite the fact that PCG asked me first. In fact, I was expecting Richie (EIC) to review the game - since he is my primary contact over there. Then I see that it was assigned to Paul (only his name is on it). That review is in stark contrast to anything out there (even the less than favorable reviews) and has the lowest grade score ever. [ 01-12-2002: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]

quote: Originally posted by Joel Schultz: Now, when's AVault going to review this thing anyway? Are they even working on one? Yep, Brian Clair is the one reviewing it. Last time I checked, they were 3-4 months behind on reviews. I won't expect it before Feb, though.

When I find the time, I will put out a call for new avatars.

quote: Originally posted by Grayfox: "incoming" thats a pucker factor of at least 8.5. LMAO!!

hehe, thats pretty cool $ilk. There's a lot more like that in the BC universe. Seek and ye shall find.

quote: Originally posted by Joel Schultz: So no one knows how to eject the cargo pod into space, then?Bummer, I had some vague ideas for that feature. But I'll try the smuggling bit out for sure. Didn't someone already mention that it is an mp feature not possible in sp?

quote: Originally posted by Thor Dazen: He should blow it out his arse, prolly get better results OK, enough of that. Thanks

quote: Originally posted by Fox__Trot: since the player cant use the ship why can the AI? Because they can and you can't.

quote: Originally posted by Salnas: Simple question: Why will the public MP servers only be able to run 16 player time-limited games? Because that is the limit I am going to impose. I don't care about anyone's high-end connection and the notion is irrelevant to me. The mp patch will only support 16 players. Period. End of story.

quote: Originally posted by Hellbinder[CE]: Hopefully, SC, you and the fleet commanders can come up with some cool Multi Fleet and Fleet Scinarios. Maybe you could come up with and post a scedule of events. That way, say upon approval, players in a given storyline will meet at the perscribed time and play the scinario for 4 hours or whatever. The outcomes could be posted in a Fleet News page on the new Community site. You're late to the party. I'm way ahead of this and have several posts about this on the site. But I don't plan on publishing the mp plans at this point. Tip: There are commercial castes in the BC world

quote: Originally posted by Epsilon 5: Didn't you say before that a few servers would be there specifically for free-for-all? It depends on if you are playing in character or not. If you are playing as a raider, though you probably don't belong to a fleet, you won't be playing according to the fleet RPG...since raiders are lawless to begin with. So, in a sense, thats a free-for-all. If I was going to host servers and pay for bandwidth, why would I do it without a reason? That reason is: it is for fleets. Because those gamers will eventually shape BCO since BCM mp is essentially the BCO mp test bed in a lot of ways.

LMAO!!! The scary thing is that it can happen. Only in America

quote: Originally posted by Gomez: Personally, I totally understand why BCM will never find it's way to consoles. There just aren't enough BUTTONS on the controller to fly a battlecruiser!'nuff said. That would be one reason

quote: Originally posted by Jaguar: Now who would he be talking about there? ROFLMAO!! [ 01-10-2002: Message edited by: Jaguar ] Not the fan base, thats for sure (in case there was any doubt)

OK, how long before Fabio aka Shirley aka Herbert aka "whatever alias he comes up with" shows up here? My guess? As soon as he reads this thread.

quote: Originally posted by Fox: I've noticed that I can just shove any illegal items into my cargo pod, and even as TER/MIL they wont notice it when I dock at various bases. That is correct. They only check your main cargo inventory area most of the time. So, you can hide items in the cargo pod and they will sometimes miss it. [ 01-10-2002: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]