Falstaff

Hmmmm.... The first Stormcarrier I ran into came at me by uncloaking to my aft and unloading it's fighter compliment. The fighters were really no problem and the Stormcarrier went up like a bundle of matchsticks in an arc furnace. So much for the "might of the Gammulans"... I wasn't too impressed, but I was scared when it first uncloaked.... I just happened to have hit the aft view button when it uncloaked. Spooky. All you have to do is pound them to dust with your main guns and methodically pick off the fighters one by one, using missiles only for the pesky ones that seem to dodge PTA fire....

Oh.... BTW. Don't deploy your cargo pods on a hillside. I did that once and watched a pod full of spare parts slide down the mountain and explode on impact with the level ground. I was a little upset, but hey, what should I have expected? Little sticky feet on the bottom of my cargo containers? Make it a point to put your cache on a flat spot.

Why do you want to deploy your cargo in space? Won't it get picked up by cargo vessels on "sweep"? I leave my cache planetside myself. You never know when you're going to need parts.. I like to buy my parts cheeply at Galcom and the spares I leave in a cache in the area I am patroling. That means I don't have to pay inflated prices should a system get fragged, nor do I have to fly all the way back to Galcom HQ, and I have free cargo space for all the cargo pods I leave in my wake.......

quote:Originally posted by Spindoktor: I feel your pain... Speaking of intruding Mr. Windows. Whats the best way to disable the windows key in XP? I have hit the windows key by mistake while aiming for the alt key (for mouse toggling) more than once and BCMG dun like the windows key. Putting it in the accessibility options would have made sense, but noooooooo. I took care of that problem a looooong time ago. Screwdriver to the keyboard. To put it like a hillbilly "Now I ain't got no windows key" Who the heck ever uses the "windows" key anyway?

I just discovered that it is best to open your "Accessability options" folder and find out just what is on. WindBlows is just a little too helpful. The situation... 10 seconds until Hyperdrive reload. System star station taking heavy damage. MUST get to star station and assist in defense against a hoard of foes. Hold down shift with another finger hovering over 9 key anticipating drive recharge........ Bliiiiipppp...... Friendly Mr.Windows shuts BC down and asks "Hello Mr.Gimpy, was there something you needed? You had the shift key held down for eight seconds and that activates the programs for the special needs people..." AAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHH..... Does anybody make an OS that is less friendly and just sits there doing its bloody job without interfering!!!!! Thread topic revised [ 05-28-2004, 09:43 AM: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]

Looking at the specs for Generations...... Maybe you should open your own banking institution so we poor people can get a loan from you and buy a new computer? All I've got is this measly 1Ghz... I didn't consider it measly until I saw Generations. Must upgrade. Need new computer. "Will work for computer parts"

If you watch the action of the crawdad, or crayfish, you will find that he is constantly swimming backwards quickly. This is because his claws are forward as well as his eyes. He can back up and defend himself at the same time. Since our CC all have awesome retrothrusters I use them to back up. I usually go forward quickly until my target is in range. He will try to get behind me, but I will begin retro-thrusting, keeping him in my sights. You'd be amazed at how well you can keep a fast fighter in front of you simply by alternating between afterburner and retrothrusting. (all while changing direction to line up, of course) This tactic will NOT work planetside very well, since you can easily back up into the ground. This usually leads to augering in and being perfectly screwed.....

quote: I hope you aren't trying to dogfight fighters with your CC I may be a n00b, but I'm not that stupid.. [/QB]

quote:Originally posted by GhengisX: if his AI is low he can't decide which part to use so he "upgrades" it back and forth. LOL!!! get rid of the old parts after the real upgrade is done. The bridge cannot be upgraded. Nor can the bridgeviewer, main computer, and comlink computer. Those are the ones he likes to "tinker" with... Knocking them down to exactly 50% and having the crew fix them and then knocking them down to 50% again... If I dock and have a station crew fix the system it might change. volatile materials... Hmmmmm... I guess if you consider the Combat officers crack pipe "volatile materials" that might explain why it happens on deck 1 when the cargo is stored on deck 2. I guess the acid, explosion, whatever travels up otherwise...

Okay... I had this little problem too. No playmod. No cheats. I got the celestial orb fair and square by playing and waiting. Now my bridge gets damaged to 50%, then crew assigned to it by EO, but it is "suspended" until I go and activate repairs in Logistics. Then when it is repaired the EO states, "bridge is damaged." "Bridge is repaired" "Bridge is under repair." rapid fire. The only fix I found for it was to send the EO to the medibay. the EO is a sabotour for the insurgents, I know it! Because I went for hours with no trouble until I let him out of the medibay and... As soon as he got on station "bridge is damaged." "Bridge is under repair." OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooo.... Now I leave the punk in medibay. I'm thinking about beaming him down onto a hostile planet and just not cloning him for a while. At least not until I take heavy damage and can use him aboard.

quote:Originally posted by Spindoktor: quote: Now where did I put that styrofoam? It's time to build models and do blind spot analysis... OMG, you are officially hardcore. I was joking. I've downloaded the 3d viewer/editor program. I can look at every station at every angle with the turrets, missile launchers, ect noted on it. Talk about sweet. I especially like the "Destroy Model" button. One of these days I'll get to see that in the game....

I like games that use LOS rules. Now where did I put that styrofoam? It's time to build models and do blind spot analysis...

Okay... So I take it they have blind spots but no minimum effective range. Oh boy oh boy.... I guess I'll start studying the specs and pics of starstations. These blind spots are logically placed, right? I mean, if I find a place that turrets wouldn't have LOS that would be the blind spot, right? Or can bases shoot through themselves?

I watched an Aestrom uncloak right on top of a starstation last night. It was only about a ship length away. It seemed that the station couldn't fire upon it! It knocked the stations shields down by half before I pummeled it into debris. It made me wonder.... Do starstations have a minimum range? If I sneak into point blank range will I be safe from station fire? I don't like getting hosed with beam weaponry but I'd also like to take a base some day.

I was under the impression that when you got a ship in tractor it went systems down. I've never been fired upon by a ship that I had tractored. And every time I've been attacked by a ships support craft they usually launced right before I got the tractor on it. I've never had support craft come out after the tractor beam is engaged. Of course, this could have just been a long streak of luck on my part, but I've been given the impression that a tractored ship is dead in the water until you let it go.

quote:Originally posted by Cmdr Nova: It's called bounty. And yes. It's worth a ton of cash. Try doing it with a Starwarrior Heavy Cruiser. You'll have enough power to jump and fly around at decent enough speed to keep doing this. Also, salvaging ships that are disabled or have an SOS gives you more bonus cash and EPs. I do this a lot when I'm out of almost shield fuel. "I don't have time to put up with this, and I don't feel like running away." Be warned, though. When towing carriers, their little minions come out and hit you when your shields are down. Oh yeah: And you can't tow in MP. Well, I don't have internet access at home so I'll not be on MP any time soon anyway. But I did discover last night that yes indeed it gets a little hairy when they disgorge their fighter compliment. However, it is feasable to fly around in a violent circle, shrieking like a drunken fish monger... "reload you stupid hyperdrive, RELOAD!!!!" while the enemy starfighters lob missiles at you. One got through, but most hit my tractored prey. I'll not be trying that stunt again unless I know the carrier has already launched its fighters. Now I've passed enough time to get artifacts and I can flit about with my E.N.M. faster than in a shuttle.... I think I'll just go blow the buggers out of space now instead of risking my life in a shuttle.

So there I am, waiting for my hyperdrive to reload in my trusty mk3 shuttlecraft when I notice a huge battle erupt around the starstation I was going to dock with. So what am I to do? I mean, I left the CC planetside so I could get around a little faster and here I am losing EP watching friendlies get torched by a big mucking Aestrom..... So I decided to get a little crazy. I targeted the Aestrom and jumped. As soon as I got in range I tractored it! Beautiful... It just went limp and I dragged it in to the waiting starbase for a healthy bonus and EP boost. I've used that tactic now on lots of big ships... But the other night I learned that one should only do so when said ships are occupied with a swarm of fighters. It takes 4000spf sunblock to stop PTA beams. *Reaches for the Bactine* I'm still a bit singed. Anybody else done this crazy stunt?

When your wife complains that you spend more time with your "Digi-Pets" than with her..... She just doesn't understand. Oh well. Looks like the 'puter is off this weekend.

I have to wonder how much B5 the SC watched. Like in the BCMG manual.. "And so it begins" Kosh, right? And the raking laser fire from the stations. Looks like the beam weapons used by the major starships and starstations, especially the Shadows. PAD works like that too, only it doesn't lock on and "grab hold" like they did. Awesome none the less. Too cool. Oh, and I think the Violon (sp?) looks the most like the Whitestar. Thats why I chose it over all the other ships.

Maybe it is easily destroyed by a player.. But I saw lots of lemmings throwing themselves off the cliff at it if you catch my drift. They wouldn't even get out of hyper.

quote:Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr: quote:Originally posted by Sir John Falstaff: Fixed the issue of the spinning reel.... I'd be willing to bet that you had accidentally hit the ALT key and turned on mouse flight control. Which will end up doing exactly what you described. ...either that or a crew member nudged the controls on his way to Resnig's daily bong party in the aft bulkhead. So THAT's what I smelt as I was flying out... Resnig had just stumbled out of the shuttle mumbling something about preflight checks and making sure the techs had done their jobs so his boys would be safe, yadda yadda yadda. The cockpit seemed smokey. Must have been some powerful stuff..... Anyway. All solved. Went and got a huge load of radine so I can keep the nightlights on for them while I'm away. They don't seem to muck with the power controls when the reactor is on.

Fixed the issue of the spinning reel.... Had to cold reboot. Restart didn't do it. Now it works fine. Got back on board and kicked my command crew in the crotch... They'd turned off everything! They had 64 power on the solar panel, I'd left the life-support systems and other neccessities for them, etc... They didn't just shut the bay doors down, they shut the whole friggin thing off? What genetic slimebucket of a genepool does Galcom recruit from anyway? Can you space your command crew and still play?

Oh yeah... I tried that. For some reason my AE spins in a circle to the left. Only in first person mode. The shuttle flies fine. It's never done it before, so I'm assuming its a problem on the computer end. When I rebooted I didn't have a stuck key error. I dunno what the heck is going on with that. Maybe my AE is so stunned by his crews incompotence that he's reeling in disbelief. Oh... and why is it they're pretty harmless to themselves until there's only 10 minutes before you have to leave and go somewhere? I guess I should start saving and shutting down... but durn it, that would take around 72 days before artifacts start showing up, since I only get to average about an hour a day to play. [ 05-29-2003, 10:52 AM: Message edited by: Sir John Falstaff ]

I found a nice little patch of moon to set down on last night. Right out in the sunlight, early AM planetside. So I turned off my reactor so it wouldn't burn my Radine as I sacked in for the night. I guess there are clouds on Earth's moon. Sometime during the night solar reactor power dipped below 5. Life support went off. Now my crew has the IQ of a bowling ball. They'll turn on every friggin system they think is important, but they can't figgure out how to refire the reactor or reactivate life support. I can just imagine the deck officer sitting in the freezing dock listening to his AC/DC wondering why nobody has turned the heat up, but unwilling to turn off his sterio and realocate power. I got up this morning to find a totally fatigued crew and a couple of cadavers. But solar reactor power was higher than when I went to bed. So I was a little frustrated. I reactivated the reactor, got in a shuttle and went to buy a little radine to get them through the day until I could come back at lunch. Flew to the station, got it, flew back.... My estimed flight officer had turned off the launch control in my absence. I could not land. And I can't tell them to turn off the damn sterios and realocate power to the launch doors you HOLES!. So, unless there is a way to get back on board I've just wasted a whole night. Is there any way I can get a job and be paid to play this game. My work is really getting in the way of having a successful BCMG carrier.

When you check to make sure your crew is in a safe place and can't do anything stupid to hurt themselves before you go and do anything away from the computer... And check up on them from time to time even if there is no time to actually play the game.