Kush Posted February 18, 2001 Report Posted February 18, 2001 Okay, I need a good excuse to procrastinate here at work and so I've decided to start a thread on how some of you vets, (and not so vets) came to the BC universe and forums.I read somewhere that Rattler was actually a game reviewer that was sent to trash the game and never returned, lost in the BC universe. Is that true?What were some of the things that drew you into the game despite the hurly burly. What makes you stay. (If you want to sneak in any revelations about BCM that would pass the NDA, please feel free.)It may have been dealt with already on another thread. I don't care. I want to hear from anybody how they got drawn in. I'm just curious. And a little stir crazy, sitting outside the beta test, waiting to peel the plastic off the game that will own me.[This message has been edited by Kush (edited 02-17-2001).]
Guest Mikel Posted February 18, 2001 Report Posted February 18, 2001 I first remember reading about the demo instructions of BC: 3000AD in PCGamer. When I got a demo disk with it I installed it...and was blown away. When we went to AAFES the next day I got it for 10 bucks.
aramike Posted February 18, 2001 Report Posted February 18, 2001 Not real interesting, but here goes...I found BC3K on some shelf in Babbages, really cheap. I read the box and pretty much fell in love with the game right there. Not being an avid gamer at the time, when I saw "A Derek Smart Simulation" on the cover, my reaction was somewhat like "who the hell is Derek Smart?". Anyway, I obviously bought the game, installed it, and decided that I needed some tech support. I was wondering why the hell I couldn't orbit. So, in the manual I saw the site and visited (it was bc3000ad.com at the time). I had a couple topics deleted, figured my way around, and made friends with a whole heckuva lot of great guys (Derek, Rattler, Gallion, Blades, Charles {Chavik}, Ron {Akira}, Eclipse, etc.). More than I could possible list here, as a matter of fact. To be honest, Rattler was the first - he's always stuck it out for people who are subject to unfairness. And he's the most noble gentleman I've ever met. If you get a chance, have a quick chat with him sometime. Anyway, as I kept coming back, I became aquainted with more and more newcomers and oldies alike. People like Wold, Echo, etc. The point is, that while the game keeps me playing, the people keep me here. Yeah, this can be a place with strict rules, but how many flame wars have you seen here as opposed to the other boards? None. This place is clean, fun, and not only that, here we get to interact with the developer of the game as opposed to the flooded boards. So, IMO, this place is a win-win situation for everyone.
Epsilon 5 Posted February 18, 2001 Report Posted February 18, 2001 Luck got me in the bc universe. One friend's little brother bought the game, but hated it. Me, on the contrary, went deeper, started reading the manual and then found how deep the game was... I felt in love with the game, but couldn't play until I had my p150 computer (had a 486DX2 66mhz before), and I really loved my experience. I bought the CD from the brother.I came here when I decided to see what could be on the website, and eventually got on this Discussion forum, and eventually registered.What makes me stay? BCM, obviously, but also that I'm now a fleet member, and that I intend on getting more respect. I just hope I'm skilled enough for MP.------------------ Commander Epsilon 5 GCV - StalkerIV, Orion Starstation (CENTRIS) Deterrence Battle Group www.orionfleet.com 'This Far, No Farther!'
Guest Posted February 18, 2001 Report Posted February 18, 2001 Good Subject actually,I was into playing tradewars, and a few other space sims, although for tradewars that's pushing, but was looking for something new. Went into a software retailer one day, and spent over an hour and a half going over the games. There must have been hundreds, saw BC3000AD on the best value shelf and took a look, needless to say, I immediatley bought it, installed it on my Pentium 133mhz and went to town. Printed out the manual and read it cover to cover, I think Derek ought to write some Sci fi, but, that's another story all together. I was looking at the web address in the manual and decided to see what that was all about, and sure enough, I've been here since January 99, with a little 6 month break when things got a little too hectic to even get on the internet let alone play the game. Got RTFM'd a few times, had Derek chew me out a few times, and if you don't think that's something, just try and get the developer of other games to give you the once over, AIN'T gonna HAPPEN. I have great respect for Derek, he's been burned, but keeps rising out of the flames and rolls on, he is a juggernaut, and all us old timers will support him to the hilt. Although, Derek still thinks I'm a newby, Oh well, can't have everything.So I haven't played BC3000AD at all in the last month and 1/2 or so, been too busy with the BETA!!! You're gonna have a cow when you see this puppy!!! I know that I did!!!So off to the BCM universe for me, don't worry, I'll see you there pretty soon, although I know it can't be soon enough, huh? lol ------------------ CMDR Jaguar GCV Excelsior This is not just a game, It's a life unto itself!!
Eclipse Posted February 18, 2001 Report Posted February 18, 2001 What brought me here? Interesting question. I remember reading a little blurb about 2.0 in some magazine, they said the game was interesting concept, but they expected more from the jump to 2.0. Forgot about the game for a few months till I saw it in Electronics Botique. I thought about getting it then, but needed the money for something else. A few weeks later I was at Software Et. and saw it again, read the box and it sparked my interest once more. This time I bought it. Opened it up installed it readt the "start up Guide" Messed around for some time, and finally wandered over to the forums. I've found here one of the only online communities where I find my self always coming back. I've been on several other forums and seen the flame, inappropriate topics etc, come back here an see a thread wishing someone happy birthday and in other cases condolances on a loss. It' the people who make BC what it is and why I stay on. Anyway thats how I came to BC and why I'm still here.... guess I haven't stuck my foot in my mouth enough time for the SC to boot me ------------------ Commodore Kyle Antilles ICV-Eclipse, Destiny Starstation (Nevuela) Commanding Officer, Destiny Spectre Fleet"You can only love or hate something you truly understand"
echo Posted February 18, 2001 Report Posted February 18, 2001 I found the game while shopping for a Valentines Day gift for my husband. I thougth it looked cool, and i would like it too. Being the computer geek wanna be that I am,(or control freak) I told him I would get the game going, show him how to play etc. Little did I know how challenging that would be! So I found the web site and if I recall correctly, I posted a very wise comment about the game. This of corse got me a wise response, so as I am again writing harsh messages to this "SC" person, (even though Chavik is trying to explain who he is through im) it is uncovered that I am a female........Well this sparked a whole lot of events seeing at the time I was the first and only registered female, (I still carry that title with pride). I also thought at the time it won me a bit extra attention,(but I have since seen others recieve the same) for I was walked through start to finish what I needed to do to my system, sent patches etc. It wasn't all sweetness however, when I crashed my system and was brought to tears (ok so the secrets out!) At anyrate by the time I finaly got it running. I made what I consider to be friends and had my picture posted on mars, I believe, thought I don't remeber how to get there. I was recruited by the Insurgents, to the SC's dissapointment and faced with this game that was just different and challenging enough to hold my attention. As time has gone on I have met more cool people, given input into uniform design, done some beta testing and have witnessed other females join the group!Where else can you get all this excitement? How many other places involve you in what we are involved in here? More importantly who else would put up with the likes of me!!! Hope I didn't bore you. this is the shortest version I could come up with! xoxoxo ------------------ Captain Echo ICV Persephone, New America Starstation (Midae) Eversor Fleet ICQ# 31736776
aramike Posted February 18, 2001 Report Posted February 18, 2001 quote:I made what I consider to be friends and had my picture posted on mars, I believe, thought I don't remeber how to get there.And a beautiful picture it is! If anyone get's a chance, go to Mars on ActiveWorlds. Check Rattler's den. The whole lot of oldies are posted there.Speaking of which, where is Den Dee?
Wold Posted February 18, 2001 Report Posted February 18, 2001 I got my copy from a guy at work. He would preorder games before their release and get them at a discount. So he order BC3K and waited...and waited...and waited.... Then got the first release, 1.0! He couldn't figure any of it out so he gave it to me to see if I could. I got it running, but couldn't get some of the stuff to work. So came here and saw some rather large patches. Did the DL & patch thing, played some...and waited for more patches. Was somewhere (OH or CA) on diebold atm/alarm training and saw the 2.0 version. Picked it up and well, here I am. BTW, I still have both cd's. ------------------ Commodore Wold ICV-Drakr, Spectre HQ (Antis) Commanding Officer, Spectre HQ Spectre FleetICQ 4669033 "You can only love or hate something you truly understand"
Kush Posted February 18, 2001 Author Report Posted February 18, 2001 Echo, None of this is boring!!!! It's a hoot! Now only if you could talk to my wife, recruit her into the insurgents! I think she'd like that.So, who else is out there...
Guest Rafius Posted February 18, 2001 Report Posted February 18, 2001 hi i know i'm only a newbie but i did find BC in a pretty intresting way... when i first saw the game it was rotting away in the darkest corber of my local games store. i blew the dust of the box to find one of the coolest games in the world but unfortunattly i had no money so i had to tuck it back under the cobwebs. it took me a whole moth to save up the money to buy the game but suprise suprise it was still sat in its dank little corner when i returned. i took the game home and spent the best part of the day trying to get it to work. i think it total i played the game for about 7 minutes in all but for some reason i still loved it. version 2.8 was a god-send when i found it in an equally dark corner of yet another games shop. since i got the new version i couldnt stop playing it. its like a really cool desiese that keeps you hooked. or mabey its just cos Mr smarts a genius
ShoHashi Posted February 18, 2001 Report Posted February 18, 2001 I got my first glimpse of the BC universe several years ago when I saw an advertisement for the game in a gaming magazine..can't remember the name (getting old ). Then, a year or two later, a friend of mine was going to a computer show and wanted to know if I needed anything. I told him that if he saw BattleCruiser 3000AD to pick it up for me. Sure enough, when he returned, he had a copy for me. Only costed $10! It was the original that was released prematurely by Take2. I immediately installed it and tried to play it to the best of my ability with the way the initial release was at the time. I remember thinking at the time that this was the perfect game, if they'd only fix the bugs. Sure enough, in the span from then until the last patch Derek released for it, it was fixed! I, for one, am glad that Derek stuck by his product.Anyways around that time, I discovered ActiveWorlds and ended up on Mars where the first BC3000AD persona I met was Tac. He gave me a tour of the Commander's Village, which was in its infancy at the time. One day, while I was building my quarters in the village, I had my first contact with Rattler and Den Dee. Rattler was eager to show me his bar and Den was very helpful to me on ActiveWorlds building techniques. I also established the first Commander's Village Library at the time. I sorta ran out of time to keep the Library running...I'll have to return one of these days and update it. So, in a semi-nutshell, that's how I got wrapped up in the BC universe.------------------ Commodore ShoHashi ICV Aries, New Frontier (Rinaal) Station Commander, New Frontier Bishamon Fleet ICQ 484321 [email protected] "You can only love or hate something you truly understand."
carlton150 Posted February 18, 2001 Report Posted February 18, 2001 I dont generally post much here, simply because I believe that if you havent got anything to say, dont say it!!Also because I have caused an upset once which led to a weeks ban....something you dont forget...but something you live and learn from.I picked up BC3K v1.0 in the UK probably 4 years ago???.....im not exactly sure now. The game got me hooked, but the desire to see it work properly brought me here...well actually to the Take 2 site first. Then I started finding out about things like patches....and the world looked up.Since then I've pretty much been a devoted fan of the game.....even went out and bought v2.08 when it came out. Even though I had the original and all those patches!!Now Im waiting with baited breath for BCM...if its anything like I think its going to be....well thats my life, career, relationships etc over for a while ------------------ Commander Carlton GCV - Deathbringer, Orion Starstation (CENTRIS) Wing Leader, Deathbringer Battle Group http://www.orionfleet.com 'Peace is something you only get when you're dead!'
Steve Schacher Posted February 18, 2001 Report Posted February 18, 2001 I think I've get the best post of all.I first became aware of BC3K when it was the cover story on the May 1994 special sci-fi issue of Computer Gaming World. This issue compared 95 sci-fi computer games that were written to-date. I bought the issue for the sci-fi roundup, not the BC3K story, but was impressed by what I read and followed its progress ever since.Rereading the article is a hoot. There are even screen shots from the program as it was in 1994! TRADCOM is there, as well as the bridge view, and even an interceptor view of the planet's surface.For you Galcom historians out there, here is a treat. I scanned in the story and posted it on my webspace. Here it is: http://members.home.net/srschacher/BC3K/cgw0594a.jpg http://members.home.net/srschacher/BC3K/cgw0594b.jpg http://members.home.net/srschacher/BC3K/cgw0594c.jpg Enjoy this blast from the past!
ShoHashi Posted February 19, 2001 Report Posted February 19, 2001 Cool story, Steve! That definately had to be in CGM before I started getting it because I don't remember that article! ------------------ Commodore ShoHashi ICV Aries, New Frontier (Rinaal) Station Commander, New Frontier Bishamon Fleet ICQ 484321 [email protected] "You can only love or hate something you truly understand."
Kush Posted February 19, 2001 Author Report Posted February 19, 2001 WOAH! Steve! You win! Hands down!I guess you've seen it all. And you stuck through it all. That was a blast from the past. I'd never seen the old Tradcom screen. I kinda like it better. Heh, heh.[This message has been edited by Kush (edited 02-18-2001).]
Rattler Posted February 19, 2001 Report Posted February 19, 2001 quote:I read somewhere that Rattler was actually a game reviewer that was sent to trash the game and never returned, lost in the BC universe. Is that true?Not a single word of truth there gentlemen. Rattler read all the previews and bought that silver box the 2nd day after it's release to the shelves. He's seen the game come from Take-You's filthy release all the way to where it is today. He's also seen a glimpse of the future as well. Can't talk about that here and wouldn't even if I could. What I can tell you is that, over the past years, I've never found another game, developer, and fanbase like this one. I stay because it's like home to me now. I'm just like the rest of you, loyal to the core and am definitley not, now ever will be a spy sent in to trash this game. Don't believe me? Try stepping out of line and maligning it just once here. You'll become believers very suddenly. ------------------ Insurgent One, Rattler ICV Necromancer, Spectre HQ (Antis) Commander-In-Chief, Insurgency Official Tester, Battlecruiser Series [email protected] ICQ 12894104"You can only love or hate something you truly understand"
Parias Posted February 19, 2001 Report Posted February 19, 2001 I discovered BCM before I even had a dinky 28.8k connection to the internet... got an issue of PCGamer in with a review of Battlecruiser 3000AD. I showed off one of their comments about how one of the crash dialogues should be a screenshot on the box to my mom, thinking it was "teh funney". Of course, it wasn't untill many weeks later that I got to find out what was REALLY going on...A bit of time later, I remembered the game existed and decided to give it another shot. I hunted around for a demo, and came across this site. The download was 50 megs (hefty, seeing as how I was on a 28.8 and had only 100 hours of ISP time), but I was highly intruiged by the options that this "demo" (actually the full release at the time.. congrats to the SC for releasing 1.7 for free) could provide, and the game sounded damn cool. So I started the download and plopped around on the forums for information. Warstories, tech issues I should know about, tips, etc. Eventually the download finished, I played the game for awhile, and liked it. This was when the "old" forums were still up For the next few months I just kinda vanished, then came back again, found the new forums, and got into the game again. Eventually I learned that 1.7 wasn't the only version available, but everyone was playing this nifty 2.x version, with nifty stuff like Fleet C&C, the lack of crashing every 5 minutes, and a lot of other kewlies. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a copy of the game in my area... so, on my birthday, the SC stepped in and sent me a free copy I've been a loyal follower ever since.Steve: Nice!------------------ Commodore. Parias ICV-Galatae, Sanctuary Storage Facility (Sygan) Balor Fleet ICQ 1293359 Staff member at HardNews
Kush Posted February 19, 2001 Author Report Posted February 19, 2001 I always wanted to know about Rattler and Parias. Kewl.Oh and Rattler, it's in this preview of BC3K v2 that mentions you. I assume you've seen it, but if you haven't, you should know what they said. http://www.gamesdomain.com/gdreview/zones/...ar99/bc3k2.html I'll cut and paste the paragraph where they mention you:'It was then that I noticed a picture of another reviewer in the dossier. "Who is this?" I asked. General Greenhill cleared his throat and said, "You are not the first person we sent to find out what Derek is doing. This reviewer, code named Rattler, was sent to Derek's enclave a while ago with a mission similar to yours. The last word we received from him was the garbled ravings of a lunatic and he has since joined Derek as one of the leaders of his web site.'It was a fairly positive preview and most of it is obviously toungue in cheek, but this paragraph piqued my curiosity.
Steve Schacher Posted February 19, 2001 Report Posted February 19, 2001 Kush,The author was obviously parodying the movie Apocalypse Now, where Martin Sheen is sent into the deep jungles to find out what happened to Marlon Brando, a fellow officer who was rumored to have started a cult of followers who would defend him to the death. Sheen's mission was to terminate Brando with extreme prejudice.The reviewer lifted names from this site to use in his story.
Kush Posted February 19, 2001 Author Report Posted February 19, 2001 I thought as much, but the way it was worded, sent my imagination off in all directions. I saw the preview before I ever came to the forums and it made Rattler out to be this mysterious mythic figure. I really liked that. Alot of the guys here, are kinda mythic in stature. You included. It's cool. It's like you guys were able to look past the initial flaws to discover something only a few could see. It's like the Musketeers, or Jason and the Argonauts.Are there any interesting stories from the old days? Anything from the old Forum days. Any interesting "I got banned for..." tales. It was neat to hear from Echo, and her experiences. How about other women, how did they get involved.
Steve Schacher Posted February 19, 2001 Report Posted February 19, 2001 quote:Alot of the guys here, are kinda mythic in stature. You included. I'm not worthy...!!! quote:Any interesting "I got banned for..." tales. If I recall correctly, back then people got banned for the same reason as today: for not heeding warnings. It wasn't for what you said, it was for repeatedly behaving against policy and ignoring the advice of others.
Kush Posted February 20, 2001 Author Report Posted February 20, 2001 Steve, the 'you' in "You included" was for YOU. I get the impression you are the oldest of the old, and wisest of the wise. Er maybe just old I think one day, not now, but eventually, it would be cool to have a place on this site with small bio's and a history of some of the Vets. We all know Derek is a fascinating guy, but just as intriguing are his soldiers at arms. Just a thought.
Steve Schacher Posted February 20, 2001 Report Posted February 20, 2001 Naahhh...Tac, Tom Seimans, Rattler, and few others (more than you think or I can remember) are older. I was registered on the original board as Steve, but I forgot my password when Derek migrated to the new boards so my records weren't maintained. I reregistered with my current date. Aramike registered shortly after I reregistered.I may have been following the game before most people, but I didn't get a Pentium computer until 1999, so I was playing vicariously through others. I was able to play the free version on my work computer when it was still Windows 95, but we switched to NT a month later, so I went without again for another year.
aramike Posted February 20, 2001 Report Posted February 20, 2001 Yeah, Steve, btw - I still want you in the Insurgency!And Kush, you too! We need good commanders!Send email to [email protected] with questions. [This message has been edited by aramike (edited 02-19-2001).]
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