Duncan Idaho

First off, that's one seriously screwed up test you put up there. Plate 6 has no number, and will scare the crap outta anyone who tries to go to the next plate...(puts up a picture of some old chick all covered in blood and plays a loud sound of her screaming, scared the bejesus out of me!). Second, I would consider at least an 8 inch scope for astrophotography, less than that will be somewhat disappointing. 8 inch scopes on up will give pretty good detail on even the more distant planets. My interest in astrophotography was deep sky objects, however. For that, even an 8 inch will be a disappointment. That said, you can still get some nice pictures out of an 8 inch, but I really wanted to resolve some nice images of other galaxies, and other deep sky objects. For such photography, 12 to 16 inch reflectors are likely the best bet, but be prepared to pay through the nose, ears, and various other bodily orifices. For the record: You mention not expecting to get nice color shots out of a scope. Not true, you won't be able to SEE the color during naked eye viewing, but the color will show up on film, (often spectacularly in a 16 inch scope...those 16 inch Meade reflectors are great deep sky scopes, I still dream of getting one...but the cost...ouch!), and the longer your exposure time, the better the color will be... Try to recall that prior to the Hubble space telescope, we still had beautiful full color pictures of deep space objects, and most of these pictures were taken with medium to large reflectors. Hubble now blows them away...but who could afford one of those? Aperature affects maximum usable magnification, didn't seem that you were too clear on that. On maintenance: It's unavoidable with any scope. Sooner or later, it'll get dust inside, or you'll jolt it and mirrors will need to be re-aligned...or the mirrors will need resurfacing... Refractors are fairly easy to clean...but it's a pain. Reflectors of any real size often have a side cover you can take off to reach in and use a VERY soft brush/blower to flick dust off lenses/mirrors. Reflectors overall are your best bet. Casselgrains are too small for what you want. (Though you can still take pictures, and resolve some detail of planets and some deep sky objects, and not worry as much about the cost). Again, it all comes down to what you're willing to spend. One last thing: If you have an interest in astrophotography, especially of the more distant planets, or deep sky objects, I hope you don't live in or even anywhere near a city, or streetlights. If you do, you'll need to trek to a darker place. Good astrophotography really rather requires no sky reflected light. With this in mind, remember that moving a scope around a lot, (not to mention the vibration it'll recieve inside a running/moving vehicle), will hasten its need for maintenance. I hope this has helped some. It's a great hobby: It's also an expensive one. I can no longer afford it. Enjoy it for me, will ya? Idaho

quote:Originally posted by Paddy Gregory: Have you read the other Tolkien books? Silmarillion, Book of Lost Tales, Book(s) of Unfinished Tales? Did you know Aragorn and Arwen are related and that Arwen is Galadriel's granddaughter (as well as being her 5th cousin)? Read the Silmarillion and you'll find out how. I'll second the other Tolkien books. Especially the Silmarillion, which, though a tough read, is probably my favorite Tolkien book. And thanks for that info on Galadriel. I knew Arwen was related to her, for some reason my mind was stuck thinking Arwen was her daughter. Well, it HAS been nearly 20 years since I read it. Idaho

Grayfox, The fourth book is my favorite. I'll be interested in hearing your opinion when you've read it. Back on topic, agreed, Fedaykin is a great name for a marine ship. Idaho

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, and the Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever are very good...(though the hero is more of an 'anti-hero', he has leperousy). The first trilogy of this series are the only books I've read that compare to Tolkien's...even beating it in many respects. The Dragonriders of Pern series mentioned above are one of the best Science Fiction series, as well. (They seem like Fantasy, but they're really Sci Fi about a 'lost colony' if you will). If you want something REALLY different, look for the 'World West of Eden' series by Harry Harrison. The premise of this story is '65 million years ago, an asteroid collided with Earth and wiped out the dinosaurs. What if this event hadn't happened?'. Picture mankind at the beginning of the ice age finding the warmer climate areas full of dinosaurs, including one very advanced sentient reptilian race. Primative man against scientific, sentient dinosaurs. Real good story, never read anything quite like it. Idaho

quote:Originally posted by Cmdr Chavik: quote:I don't think the age of the vehicle is a problem.I do. I think it played a role, possibly a major role. Even though systems were updated the frame (infrastructure) of the vehicle was over twenty years old. Every time it launched and re-entered the atmosphere stresses were put on the vehicle. I must agree to disagree. NASA originally designed these vehicles to do 100 missions/landings, and none of these frames have come even close to that number yet. These vehicles and their frames were designed with these unique stresses in mind. Idaho

Like most of you, I've grown weary of overused names, and put a little thought into my ships name. My ship in most campaigns has been the Futeki, which is Japanese for 'Intrepid', or 'fearless'. I picked that after realizing I could have the name Intrepid without actually using the word. I've noticed most of you picked fairly unusual names for your ships, and find that to be pretty cool. Idaho

Yup, I've heard a lot of others have that problem with the older PS2's. Also the earliest release of the PS2 doesn't like dual layer DVD's...like most movies out on DVD today are made on. Idaho

I don't think the age of the vehicle is a problem. In fact, since it's pretty much stripped down and checked between each flight, I don't think it's really an issue. The ships internals have all been upgraded to modern technology. A newer type of vessel would actually be as much, if not more, risky. Consider the loss of the Challenger, which was at that time a fairly new craft. It's tragic launch showed a flaw in the booster rocket O-Rings. It's loss could be blamed on the newness of the craft and its concept. I do agree that NASA could use more funding though. Any way you look at it, today's tragedy is a loss for us all. For all we know, one of US might have been on that ship. Who'd be more likely than an Astronaut to enjoy BCM? It feels, to me, like we've loss 7 of our own friends today. Idaho

Oh my gawd that's just Hysterical! Idaho

I came out with Frodo, also Aragorn and Gimli. I was a bit surprised since I detest mushrooms. Idaho

Well, a week of play, not one crash, bug or glitch to be seen. In fact, I've stopped looking, and gotten down to the business of enjoying myself in the vasty reaches of space...and stuff. Nice work, SC, a thousand thank you's for your dedication to your vision. Idaho

quote:Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr: Hey where've you been?!?! You missed out on a lot of fun.....and as usual, controversy Yeah, that Sygan Triangle problem was a real problem. It was as difficult to reproduce reliably as it was to fix. Had to implement a whole new camera system (from BCG) to solve it. Have been busy with real life issues...(I know you know just how annoying real life issues can be ). I can't wait to go visit Sygan, though, hoping to get a chance to have a looksee tomorrow. Looks like lots of changes will greet me, (I just checked, I'm still using 1.0.0.7, so I've missed a lot of cool updates heheh). Can't wait to play though, now that I have some time on my hands again. See ya man! Idaho

Woo... Been away for a bit, just noticed the infamous Sygan Triangle's been fixed. The mystery was fun while it lasted. Now I'll have to load up and go try to find the ships I lost there. Good work, SC. Idaho

Jaguar, Heh, you gave me a laugh there. Never thought I'd see Ted Nugent saying patriotic things. Sounds like old Mr. Trash Mouth turned into a propagandist to me. (Listen to his early live albums if you don't know what I mean). Gotta run! Just saw a turkey flying by my window! Oops! My mistake! It was just a flying PIG. Cheers! Idaho

Gobble gobble! Happy Turkey Day to you as well. And to all the BC fans out there. And to you as well, Mr. SC. Let's remember to be thankful for all SC's hard work. Idaho

Menchise, Thanks, I'm there! Might as well download all the WC1 music as well, since even my oldest PC still running cannot run WC1 anyway. Can't say I've heard any WC music in some time. Idaho

Ahh Privateer! You hit upon the one game I always wanted but could NEVER find. We only JUST got our first software store locally this past year, prior to that I either had to take a LONG trip, or see if I could harass an out of state friend to find for me. I'd love to hear the music from that game though, if it's anywhere near as good as the original Wing Commander music. Idaho

Litvyak, Heheh, it's certainly one of the best behaved communities on the Net. Derek may seem strict, but someone should give him credit for keeping this forum in line. Hell, he's even got ME saying 'Now sit down and shut up.' Idaho

Hmm, I've a few favorites: Final Fantasy 7 has AWESOME music, I often playlist its midi files to play other games to. Perfect for Everquest or pretty much any game that has crappy music, or no music at all. Descent (The ORIGINAL Descent, it had Midi techno rock that REALLY rocked my world for a LONG time, if you haven't heard this music, find the Midi's, load up a nice GM patch file if your card supports it, and check it out!) Wing Commander (1) Homeworld (And I'm REALLY surprised no one else listed that one, the ending them, by Yes, truly ROCKED). Road Rash Need for Speed 3 (And I've heard the guy who did this music does music for many modern car advertisements now). Mechwarrior 2 (and it's expansion, as well as Mercenary). Here at the bottom I'll add just one more: An old Shareware gem, the first game I got that could use my then new original Sound Blaster: Jill of the Jungle, a game by Tim Sweeney and his then little known company called 'Epic Megagames', (Yeah, you know them, they did the Unreal games more recently). This 'Jill of the Jungle' game had sweet music that fit the game. Other games have done it better now, but back in the late 80's, Jill of the Jungle did it best and first if you ask me. I liked it so much I actually bought the full non-shareware game. That about does it, I've probably left out a number of others I like, but this lists my most favorite game music. Idaho

Heheh, I've noticed less posts over time, (and I've not been posting a lot myself, been playing a lot of other games lately, totally hooked on Jedi Outcast). I've kinda put it down to most of us getting quite used to the game, and not needing to ask as many questions. Also, the patches have fixed most of the quirks and bugs outright. Bugs stamped out = less posts of problems. I agree with the post above about this being a pretty friendly community, I've been well treated here, (even though there were a few times I didn't deserve it heheh). This is probably my first post in 3 months, but it doesn't mean I'm not still here, and not still interested. Take care. Idaho [ 10-31-2002, 03:03 AM: Message edited by: Duncan Idaho ]

Question answered, thank you sir! *salute* Sorry for calling them reference drivers, but that is what it says on Nvidia's website. Not sure how they aren't if Nvidia says they are. Idaho [ 08-13-2002, 11:18 PM: Message edited by: Duncan Idaho ]

Hello, Anyone have any news good or bad on the new Nvidia ref drivers from Nvidia's site? I see version 30.82 have just been put up, and would like to try them out, but since the most knowledgeable crowd I've seen out 'there' is here, I thought I'd ask here. Heh, my machine's been rock stable with the 27.42's for so long now, I'm only changing if some trustworthy BCM'ers give the thumbs up. Take care, see you 'out there'. Idaho

Nice to know I wasn't the only tortured soul forced to read some crappy 'Teacher's Choice' book. On the other hand, the same teacher who forced me to read 'Lord of the Flies' also made me read Stienbeck's 'Of Mice and Men' and Hemmingway's 'The Old Man and the Sea', and I enjoyed both of those, especially the latter. Idaho

Ahh, Dune, (all the books!). Dragonriders of Pern (all of them) Stranger in a Strange Land The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever (both series) The Apprentice Adept series (Piers Anthony) All Creatures Great and Small (James Herriot, all the books are great) West of Eden (strange trilogy by Harry Harrison) Lord of the Rings Asimov's Foundation series Adding to the topic: Most hated book! Lord of the Flies. I was forced to read this one in 6th grade, it made me physically ill. Idaho

Hey Kush, I'm not the only one who thought Sin was better than Half-Life? I mean, once all patched? Graphically, Sin blew me away. I still play it. I've modded mine up pretty nice, and it STILL rocks. Idaho