Tigranes

Sorry, I didn't mean to put words in your mouth - was really speaking to the statistics. You've got to wonder what Lenin might have done to 'communise' agriculture... along with difference in pay, one of the big things the soviet model really screwed up on.

China PRC numbers there are only that high because of Mao's five-year plans on agriculture... in fact, you could say the same with Stalin-era USSR. Not that that's any less devastating, but you have to consider that before directly comparing numbers against Nazi Germany and saying "that's nothing".

Probably, I meant a sophisticated system for guards that not just detect YOU (and things you touch) but one of their own missing and so forth ('secondary' evidence, deduction). I'm just guessing but if something like that was in, you wouldn't expect Rorie's answer to so completely omit that kind of feature.

Doesn't sound like there are sophisticated detection/alarm systems in place though (knock out the doorman, you're fine at first but when the next shift comes around they notice and start looking, etc). Not too surprised, since this ain't Thief 4, but at least it sounds like stealthy approaches are thought about well.

1. Refuse Once again, this is not the time to be spending money left and right and trying to be 'modernised'. Economy and justice comes first. 2. Advice Sounds reasonable enough. 5. Advice I actually agree with Wals, but given the nature of the game (which appears to not allow active policy initiatives on our part), rejecting will simply createm ore anger. 8. Advice No real doubt here. 9. Advice Again, no real doubt here. Hang on, our beloved el presidente is turning into a puppet! This can only lead to disaster!

You should be using the UI mod in conjunction with the widescreen mod?

Llyranor, you despicable multilingual of the troll variety.

Yep, it just doesn't make any sense. Which is, likely, because the satellites weren't actually meant to be active when they designed the main plot, and it was shoehorned to provide a 'woah' moment for the DLC. Which... to be fair, I'm perfectly fine with, gameplay over canon and all that. I just don't know if it gave the player anything worthwhile, or if it was just another "look I can do THIS" moment of indulgence.

I graduated yesterday, which ended up being a 15-hour affair from getting regalia, struggling with the stupidity of said regalia, going late to a parade and forgetting the trencher and thus being the short asian at the end without a trencher, finishing the parade without seeing anyone because I was obviously separated from other Media graduates and my mom was waiting at the wrong place, seeing a few people, ceremony, watching couple people get on stage to the darth vader theme in said ceremony, flowers, etc, etc. Wasn't really interested in the whole affair to begin with, so was quite surprised to see how much work the university put into it and how much some people seemed to enjoy it. I guess I don't know what I've got, but I'll have a couple more opportunities to do this, so. Do people still throw trenchers? We didn't get to.

I remain puzzled - Morgoth, do you have anything to substantiate your beliefs that imams and mosques are a significant source of terrorism and unrest, for instance? I can see what you mean about the 3rd generation Austro-Turks, but...

Do you have anything to back this up Morgoth? I only have passing knowledge of Turkish immigrants in Germany and other European countries, so I can't really make a call. Enoch: Theoretically speaking, you'd think so, but even places like New Zealand, which might epitomise the 'shallower' (bad keyword to pick, sorry, I don't mean to suggest a pejorative connotation here on your part or mine) environment, seem to have surprisingly deep-rooted systems of normativity and social identity, at least with regards to our current topic. To be honest, having been an immigrant (though my first-hand observation of immigrants from various locales is limited), it's much more an issue of communal and 'soft' structures and paths that are laid in place when you arrive, than your individual energy / skills or legislation and such 'hard' structures. Of course there are people who lack drive, ability, money or attitude and flounder (and thus benefit nobody), but on the whole I think the critical issues on whether immigrants, as individuals and as ethnic groups, integrate successfully (which of course is different from simple assimilation) and contribute to the host society long-term is dependent on things like whether immigrants from X have been able to form communities, what kind of communities they've been able to form, what areas of expertise or business they have penetrated (e.g. the absolute domination of the 'drug store' / 'dairy' (US/UK terminology) business by the Indian subcontinent in NZ and UK to an extent), and such, rather than big-money deals made between private enterprises or wholesale legislative changes (which find it difficult to intervene effectively in such processes anyway). Hiro: there are definitely people who live in their host country 'only in body and not in spirit', and I think that happens the most with people who come just to learn English... even if you have immigrated to just to earn a better living, to flee a war or to marry someone you have some kind of investment in the host society as a whole. But when you're just there to learn English it's extremely difficult to not think "I wouldn't be here anyway if it weren't for the dastardy domination of the English language". It is still lamentable, but when you look at such circumstances at a personal level it's difficult (and unrealistic) to tell them that they're contributing to a negative phenomenon.

It's not. But it's still an interesting reason to have a 'rival party' in the works.

Gromnir, the reason I'd be intrigued with a 'rival' party is that it has the opportunity to produce some interesting and unusual (in CRPGs) situations, like being robbed of the loot, quest, info and/or glory by those who found the place before you, as opposed to them sitting there waiting to kill you (then, IWD2-style, teleporting away). It's certainly not 'omg new innovashun' but especially in the context of the FO setting, it would have been refreshing (and a lot more sensible compared to some massive Enclave-style organisation).

I'm just glad they didn't decide to reintroduce the Hubologists in the same way. They were hilarious in FO2 (even if jarring), but... well, look at Harold.

Last night, I went to the pub and stole some sucker's whiskey. Was some good stuff.

Let's Play v2.0 will feature a Morality Compass to let you know which option is the right one. This will be even more important because there will be too much bloom and you won't be able to tell manually. Let me re-vote then Cyc: "My proposal: Increase funding for health care." Yes. "My proposal: Continue to support my efforts to discipline the Army." "My advice: Continue to support Colonel Ehrlich's efforts to discipline the Army." Ehrlich, maintain the status quo for now. "My proposal: Arrest the members of the defeated Farsante Guard." "My advice: Issue warnings about the dangers of hoarding and speculation, and call for calm." No, I don't see a point in doing that wholesale. Maybe specific groups once there is a sign of unrest (to absolve us of any claims of heavy-handed purging). So, Yes to advice.[ "My proposal: Divide credit resources between the food growers and the producers of export crops." "My advice: Direct the National Bank to give priority to the producers of export crops." No opinion. "My proposal: Accept North American offers of development assistance." Yes. "My proposal: Accept a package of loans from the IMF and international banks." "My advice: Negotiate the rescheduling of debts. Secure further loans from the IMF." Yes to advice. I don't like IMF dependency but as long as we are accepting NA aid... "My proposal: Give the dictator's land to the less-well-off coffee producers." No if that means the game will later present us with options to distribute the land differently; otherwise, Yes. "My proposal: Increase funding for education." No, not yet - not enough $.

Yes. Perhaps when you go into combat mode and shoot Three Dawg in the face, there will be a floating text saying "This ain't the good fight, yo."

"My proposal: Increase funding for health care." Yes. "My proposal: Continue to support my efforts to discipline the Army." Yes. "My advice: Continue to support Colonel Ehrlich's efforts to discipline the Army." Yes. "My proposal: Arrest the members of the defeated Farsante Guard." No, I don't see a point in doing that wholesale. Maybe specific groups once there is a sign of unrest (to absolve us of any claims of heavy-handed purging). "My advice: Issue warnings about the dangers of hoarding and speculation, and call for calm." Yes, why not. "My proposal: Divide credit resources between the food growers and the producers of export crops." No opinion. "My advice: Direct the National Bank to give priority to the producers of export crops." No opinion. "My proposal: Accept North American offers of development assistance." Yes. "My proposal: Accept a package of loans from the IMF and international banks." Yes. I don't like IMF dependency but as long as we are accepting NA aid... "My advice: Negotiate the rescheduling of debts. Secure further loans from the IMF." No, just to keep things at reasonable levels. "My proposal: Give the dictator's land to the less-well-off coffee producers." No if that means the game will later present us with options to distribute the land differently; otherwise, Yes. "My proposal: Increase funding for education." No, not yet - not enough $.

Totally, it's got that old school dialogue tree you see in ancient games such as KOTOR and Jade Empire.

We banned Sawyer for posting pictures of furry motorbikes, but the 12 hours should be done now. Sorry Calax.

I'm with CG/HK, rope arrows are awesome fun. IMO climbing introduces a lot of difficulties in level design and avoiding exploits / cheese (especially if you're a nimble monkey like in Assassin's Creed); I'd much rather see Garrett stick to those limited rope arrows and perhaps integrate some more animations in terms of clinging to surfaces, rolling and whatnot. As for the AI.... I'd be happy if they managed to keep the old AI, actually. Regardless of what goes on behind the scenes, sometimes it feels like AI are becoming stupider in practice.

Nope. I despise the trailer and what they are doing. But that doesn't mean I am not blind to its effects or that it constitutes a certain sort of 'success'.

Having followed bushfire coverage for work, I can say: - The failure to cut down trees and drive back bushes where sensible has played a role in just how unstoppable the fire became. - The warning systems were also not quite up to speed for some of the more isolated and rural communities, but I think this has been slightly overstated in the media; it was only one of many factors. - Australia has consistently argued for a 'flee early or stay and fight' (paraphrased) strategy; at the earliest signs of trouble you either get the hell out, or board up and stay put. Combine this with the former factor, which meant that even at temperatures of ~45c people in forested areas were content to sit by the telly with their cold drinks, and you have a potentially devastating situation where you are staying when you really shouldn't be staying, or can't properly do either. This appears to have driven up the death toll a little this time. - Scientists and governments have either failed to predict the return of the bushfires with as much urgency as they should have had, or they have failed to communicate that urgency to the public for various reasons. Andrew Sullivan, of CSIRO (Australia's federal science research group) Sustainable Ecosystems, came out to express his 'surprise' at the fact that the bushfires came back and with such ferocity - not what you want to be hearing, really. - The Royal Commission has now got its hands in the affair, but it will typically take 6-12 months for their report to be presented to the Rudd government, at which point some of the recommendations will be accepted 'in principle' before a few of those are enacted in some different form. It's to be expected that no matter what the government does, they will be hard pressed to give the impression to people that they have really changed a lot of things to effectively prevent future bushfire damage. The public outcry in Australia itself wasn't quite as bad as you'd expect, though - partly helped by media coverage that turned it into a 'human story' with all the crying people consoling each other and people coming to help and drop off food and then dancing and singing we're all together happy happy. edit: In addition to my general overview, yeah, Hiro is right about the comparative lack of 'preventative burning' in Australia in the last decade or two.

Funnily enough, my quick sampling suggests that Volo has the best grip in reality out of all of us. While one suspects it, it's always surprising to see so many people jump out of the undergrowth to scream their delight at this kind of trailer. It probably did have a positive net effect for Bio in terms of sales and audience sizes (if not for other markers).

Note: the poster above says "Do not forget the wolfish Yanks' ('wolfish' being an adjective for cunning, immoral and such). I suppose it's North Korean. Anyway, what, guns? Woah, I got nothin'.