Tanequetil

Is the BFM Trading Assistant still available, or something like it? Thanks, Tane

My marine "pilots" continue to amaze me (and make me LOL) with their lack of savvy. Something simple like ordering them out in a couple of shuttles to tow and deliver a couple disabled enemy fighters to GALCOM station becomes a major undertaking. First they orbit their intended target for a while, presumably being stumped by calculating an approach vector to an object that is Dead In Space. Then once one gets his tow to GALCOM, orbiting GALCOM and flying through the station structure on a sightseeing tour before FINALLY delivering his tow. And those are the smart ones!

I still am unable to join a mp game on my LAN that is not connected to the net. I did a complete uninstall and delete. Then reinstalled v.1 from the retail CD. Patched to v.20. Connected fine with mp, though get server disco after 15 to 20 min. Patched to v.27. Get "unable to verify key, try again later" message. Thanks, Cdr_Tane

I made some observations on trading that made me wonder why a trader would ever use his trading vessel to trade! Once a decent trade route has been found, you can run about 4 times as many trips in a shuttle Mk1 as you can in the fastest trader. I have found that the cargo space is not the limiting factor, Galcreds are. Since there are cargos with high value and low cargo displacement, you can load up to 400,000,000 Galcreds worth of cargo in your shuttle. Once I have this kind of cash I load up the first shuttle, launch a second shuttle, EVA to it from the first, then load it up. Then I give it orders to accompany the first shuttle to the trade destination, e.g. Wraith in Lyrius. When I get there I simply sell all from the first shuttle, EVA to the second and sell itÔÇÖs contents, then return with both shuttles. This overcomes any cargo capacity advantage that the merchies have. The shuttles can evade trouble much more easily as well. If I was a trader, IÔÇÖd have a huge fleet of Mark I shuttles with crews, semi-permanently moor the mothership to the home trading station and try to keep up with counting all the Galcreds.

PTA's took out a shuttle in 1 or 2 seconds? Wow! Note to OPS: Institute a new SOP of deploying probes along trade route. Check local and probe view to ensure there are no heavy hostiles are heading for shuttles next jump point before HJ is initiated.

While returning from a trade run to Wraith in a Mk3 shuttle, I was nearing the jump point after leaving the station. The TRS was clear of hostiles. I had nearly entered the jump point and just before I entered it I caught a glimpse of a Firestorm appearing, in front but not dead ahead. I thought I briefly saw a faint reddish corona around it. A second later I got a message that I was KIA. No warnings or alarms that I noted. I was wondering what caused my destruction? Anyone have anything like this happen before?

I have purchased only 1 game on line via download - Combat Command. My experience was positive. I was able to download it and burn it on a CD-ROM. It loaded and ran fine. I have a number of games where the manual is on the disk. Depending on the game, having the manual in hand can be much preferable to having it on the disk. One such game I own is "Uncommon Valor". The company that published "Uncommon Valor" took the approach of setting up an arrangement with Kinkos so that you get a hard copy printed for a reasonably low cost, which I took advantage of. Without the ability to "burn" the game to CD-ROM I would be worried about "losing" it and not being able to replace it in the future.

I would like one more clarification, please. Each of the machines has to connect to the internet ONE TIME and then join a server and authenticate with a unique CD-key. Can I then 1)launch a server on the home LAN 2)launch clients on the machines and join that server without the LAN (server or clients) being connected to the internet? OR Do all machines have to be connected to the internet whenever I want to run an mp game on the home LAN? I do not keep the LAN on the internet because of the constant "probes" and "attacks" by hackers, adware, spyware, updateware and the firewall, virus scan, spy sweeper, etc. overhead that requires. Thanks for your effort. Sincerely, Cdr. Tane Again, thanks for all your effort. Sincerely, Cdr Tane

Having difficulty reading your last post, the topic seems to hang indefinitely.

SC, Thanks very much for your clarification. I knew that you needed a CD for each machine, except a server only machine. I have every intention of having a copy of the game for each machine. I am trying to troubleshoot and make sure that I can get MP going on my home LAN before I plunk down the hard earned cash for the other 2 copies. The vcf says that you will need to have the CD-Key authenticated regardless whether it is a LAN game or a net game. And that verification is done only once. I interpreted that to mean that when I started the server and then the client machine and then tried to join, the server would ask for the CD-key and that once entered it would associate it with the client machine. And it would then no longer ask for the CD-key when you joined that server. It does not specifically say that it is authenticated over the internet. I also interpreted that to mean that once you authenticated, you didn't have to keep track of which CD you used in which machine. Is that true? So, as I understand I must somehow get each of my LAN machines connected to the internet and join one of the 3000ad MP servers and get authenticated. Then the LAN will be able to run MP stand alone. Correct? Thanks again for your help,

I am getting 'unable to verify CD key' error on my home LAN after installing the .23 patch. I was having no problem getting mp running either from the same machine or with one set up as server and the other as client before I installed the patch. I did get server disconnects after running for 30 min or so. But now, it finds the server fine, then I select accept and it comes up with an enter cd-key screen. When I do this, it says "checking with server" or a "unable to verify cd-key" window pops up and it hangs. I have to either do an Alt-F4 or reboot to recover. I find a "bcerror.log" file and when I open it, it says "unable to verify cd-key error". I have run it following the FAQ and VCF suggestions of to setup the "join MP" shortcut with +connect localhost and specifying the IP address. There is no firewall or internet router involved. The machines are not connected to the internet, only to each other via a switcher. Both machines are nearly identical.

It's these kind of 'surprises' from the AI that really add to the enjoyment of the Battlecruiser experience. I had a similar occurrence where I took my 2nd and 3rd 'smartest'(least dumb?) marines to pilot two of my shuttles down to deploy mining drones. I gave them the waypoint orders 1) Next WP 2) Deploy Mdrone 3) Halt. I saw them on their way and jumped off on a trading run through some hazardous regions. So, I am monitoring the shuttles occasionally and I notice they are hundreds of kilometers or more from the last way point and they are up high in altitude. I thought even marines could understand a Halt order. A little while later I get a message that shuttle 2 has been destroyed.... I guess it was one of those 'Darwinian' moments.

I hate to admit this, but after re-reading the FAQ's for about the 5th time, I tried using the '-n' parameter in the UC shortcut and the game launches fine in sp mode. Somehow I had associated that work around with WinXP and didn't think it applied to Win98SE. My apologies.

Thanks for the tip. I had tried docking with the station from the CC using ALT+D, but got the message about no power to Launch Control. I guess it thought I was trying to get the shuttle docked. I'll see if I can issue a Deliver To order to the shuttle.