Monte Carlo

Only Pogues have those. Infantrymen have SUSAT sights and giggle at blanket-stackers with suitcase handles.

Bullpup weapons were designed simply to reduce overall weapon length. Which it did. However, this is where the law of unintended consequences came into play. 1. Issues with left-handed shooters (i.e. me). The British army SA80 never had an optional left / right handed bolt assembly / ejector port. I had to fire it right handed, when my muscle memory told me to look for left-handed cover. Luckily I never went on a proper two-way range. 2. Bullpup weapons were conceived in the days before rails, flashlights, uber-optics and tricked-out modular weapons systems. The back-heavy configuration of most bullpup weapons means that they are not optimally balanced to have all sorts of kit bolted to them. Note how the British army McGuyvered foregrips on the SA80 to offset this. 3. Short weapons are dangerous in range and training environments. The most dangerous bastard weapon of all is the pistol, because it's so small and easily pointed (unlike a long rifle, where you are more situationally aware of where the thing is pointing). Next is the submachinegun then comes bullpup rifles. I don't have stats to prove it but well remember sprog squaddies pointing SA80s around in a way they never did with the long SLR (FN-FAL). 4. A more general point, but bullpup weapons seem to suit smaller calibre rounds. I don't think there are many 7.62mm versions of bullpup weapons knocking about, and as militaries start moving back towards larger calibre rounds we might see the next generation of small arms move back to the traditional config.

I skip 80% of dialogue in CRPGs.

But... but... non-violent play-throughs are the Holy Grail of these forums! What you describe is the quintessence of RPG goodness and true 'choice and consequence.' Me? I think it's just another talking book-type deal, but heresy belongs in another thread.

I bet you can spend six hours choosing a hair colour but get three skill choices afterwards.

Subtlety has never been mainstream Hollywood's strong point I suppose. As for 'The Greatest Generation' I implore you to watch the special features section on the DVD of 'Generation Kill.' The real active duty marine sergeant portrayed in it is interviewed and gives his take on what would have happened had 24 hour news been embedded with US forces on D-Day. It really is electrifying. On the nights of 4th - 5th - 6th of June 1944 the Greatest Generation took the decision to bomb the French coastline and railway infrastructure knowing full well they'd kill thousands of French civilians. Which they duly did. It was a hard-nosed piece of military thinking - 'X' amount of friendly civilians die so we can take Omaha Beach and move inland. That's friendly civilians, sport fans. My generation uses smart technology and drones to minimize civilian casualties. It uses lawyer and legal advisors in the field. It retrospectively excoriates people who used non-lethal interrogation techniques on those who would do us harm. Neither generation is or was 'great' each simply made decisions based on the political and ethical mores of the day. Seriously, watch that piece about being 'at the tip of the spear.'

Hollywood has always despised, but fetish-ised, those who protect it. For example, in A Few Good Men the really radical thing would have been to make Col. Jessup the good guy, and Tom Cruise the snivelling libtard creep not fit to lick his boots. Jessup gets the best lines, so I suppose it's evens. Apparently, The Winter Soldier harkens back to the golden age of 70's conspiracy theory movies, when handsome actors with big hair and a soft spot for the USSR made a big deal about Richard Nixon bugging one room. As a meme I've seen recently says, Obama bugged the world and nobody gave a ****. I've just watched World War Z 'The Extended Cut.' As a fan of the novel, I'm not going to bother trying to compare the two. I just hope Max Brookes got a fat cheque and can sleep at night. But the lack of internal consistency in the plotting spoils what might have been a perfectly enjoyable piece of disaster-movie hokum (and World War z is a disaster movie, not a horror movie). For example, why is Brad Pitt's character the man the UN need so badly they send a helo to rescue him? As far as he's presented, he's a hostile environment war-crimes investigator. Huh? I fail to see how that qualifies him to solve the puzzle behind the zombie apocalypse. It's just lazy. There are any number of specialisms they could have notionally given him to have made him 'The Man.' Then we have the silly ending in a top secret World Health Organisation bio-weapons lab in Wales. By the way, Wales is a place where the only visible zombies are in the top secret WHO lab, not the streets of Cardiff which are as quiet as the grave. Pro-tip - did anyone else notice that Peter Capaldi, the new Doctor Who is in this movie... as a Doctor at the WHO? This is where they film Doctor Who too.... Da-da-da!!!

I'm in my mid-forties, ergo my preference for Milfus Maximus.

I've heard the "Zionism isn't anti-Semitic" schtick too. Fair enough. I'm not a Zionist, but I do understand why the mechanised slaughter of your race on the back of ancient prejudice and bigotry might make you a tad touchy. I'd say 50% of the time it's true, people separate the politics of Israel from Jewry in general. I'm half-Jewish (a Mischling in Oby's eyes, probably) and have met many perfectly reasonable people who fold this position. OTOH, 50% of the time it's a respectable position from which some people camouflage their anti-semitism. Which camp is Oby in, d'you think? Oby is being deliberately provocative and, as far as I'm concerned, knows precisely what he's doing. He's done it before and he'll do it again. He's sly and he's clever. He's also peddling a virulent and unpleasant sort of ultra-nationalism.

Nah, don't ban him. All he does is post links loaded with viruses and larded with bigotry.

Would you care to explain why, Valsuelm?

Not to Gfted.

Gfted, wtf do you want? A link that says "this logo is anti-semitic?" If you've got some sort of free speech bug up your arse, just say so.

Indeed. Alternatively you could, like, you know... moderate. Depicting Jews as lizards / serpents and less-than-humans is as old as anti-semitism itself. Oby knows what he's doing.

That logo, to me, screams 'Zionist Conspiracy They're Watching You.' It's like the scene in Borat where he takes the piss out of Eastern European anti-Semitism by thinking Jews can shape-shift into c0ckroaches. Oby is a extreme Russian nationalist with all the prejudices that brings with it. For some reason he's seen as a cuddly figure of fun, not an obscenely racist troll.

Oby, a lizard's eye in the centre of a Star of David? Orly? And no moderator has pulled you for overt anti-Semitism? This forum is a joke sometimes. I get PM'd by mods for upsetting the pro-romance crowd and Oby gets away with anti-semitic BS like that. YCMIU.

Monica... *sigh*

Level 63 and I have a badass legendary shield that looks like an octopus!

Got to Level 59 with my Crusader, am just farming the campaign on Hard and doing some rifts / bounties as well. still get a childish zing of delight when I open up a Horadric box full O' goodies at the end of a bounty.

I prefer Lena Headey's but Butler is a fine figure of a man, to be sure.

The city building looks a bit like the Total War series to me.

I watched 300 again. I forgot how incredible it was.

So you have never tried to help someone in your life who is on a destructive course? Yep, I've worked with people in serious trouble for over twenty years.

I think you should mind your own business.

Oh, my bad. I'm sorry, I'm not sure if it works that way. Although I don't think ECL (encounter level) is in IWD2 if memory serves.