Raithe
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Everything posted by Raithe
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Klingong Guide To Writing Perfect Code The 12 most common statements you are likely to hear from a Klingon programmer: Number 12: “Specifications are for the weak and timid!” Number 11: “This machine is a piece of GAGH! I need dual Pentium processors if I am to do battle with this code!” Number 10: “You cannot begin to appreciate Dilbert unless you have read it in the original Klingon!” Number 9: “Indentation?! I will show you how to indent when I indent your skull!” Number 8: “What is this talk of ‘release’? Klingons do not ‘release’ software. We uncage our software, letting it leave a bloody trail of designers and quality assurance people in its wake.” Number 7: “Klingon function calls do not have ‘parameters.’ They have ‘arguments’ . . . and they ALWAYS WIN THEM!” Number 6: “Debugging? Klingons do not debug. Our software does not coddle the weak.” Number 5: “I have challenged the entire quality assurance team to a Bat-Leth contest. They will not trouble us again.” Number 4: “A TRUE Klingon programmer does not comment his code!” Number 3: “By filing this PTR you have challenged the honor of my family. Prepare to die!” Number 2: “You question the worthiness of my code? I should kill you where you stand!” Number 1: “Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are!” -
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How the Battle of Asakai Became One of the Largest Space Battles in Video Game History When the Goonswarm ship fell under attack, they called for reinforcements. So did everyone else. Goonswarm is part of a larger umbrella group called the Cluster **** Coalition (the only drawback to the coolness of this story is the juvenile names some of the groups have), and the battle soon became CFC against pretty much everyone else. Soon, the battle was so enormous it actually caused time to slow down. EVE Online has had trouble with large battles in the past (in fact, one slightly larger than the Battle of Asakai happened in October 2012) – server lag can destroy the experience. To help, they use something called Time Dilation. When the server load gets too high, the star system where the battle is occurring is slowed down to as little as 10 percent of real-time. It's basically intentional lag. Battle slows down, but all commands and events are processed properly and in order, unlike the chaos of true lag. Because systems outside the battle are not affected by Time Dilation, it allowed lots of time for reinforcements to arrive in-system and join the fight. In the end, the CFC was soundly defeated, losing 44 Dreadnoughts, 29 Carriers, five Supercarriers, and three Titans to TEST's six Dreadnoughts, 11 Carriers, and one Supercarrier. The Titan that started it all survived. Total losses are estimated at 700 billion ISK (EVE's in-game currency). What's really interesting is that EVE allows ISK to be bought and sold freely, so those loses can be translated into real-world amounts. In this case, estimates suggest losses of about $15,000. What's even more interesting is the capacity for open-ended games like EVE Online to create emergent stories. Nothing was prescripted about the storylines that lead to the battle -– not the alliances, the mining conglomerate, the bad blood between the groups, or the events of the battle itself. EVE creates a set of economic and military factors and lets the players run loose. The stories (and battles) occur organically. Similar things have happened with other sandbox style games, such as Day Z, where your struggles to survive among ranveous zombies and hostile players can lead to bizarre, thrilling or even emotionally resonant stories.
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But can you imagine the frustration and mystery of peeling back layers, following minions.. going up against the potential big bad..only to find out there's that hidden claw pulling his strings? All of which slowly lead you from one encounter to another until finally the grand reveal of the mysterious and powerful OZ! - wait.. I mean dragon. And then to end up in a rather civilised conversation, where you find out said dragon might be manipulative but isn't actually evil and is doing it for a grand vision.... The confusion then!
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One issue with Reputation as a mechanic, is if you have multiple reputations with the assoreted factions, is there also going to be one "Universal" reputation for how famous/notable your character might be? Also, as has been mentioned, does it make sense that your actions are immediately known and recognised throughout the whole world? Is there going to be some sense of reputation gains/losses only in the immediate area, but then over time the stories of your actions spreads out and those reputation modifiers spread further? So if you move fast enough, will you outrun your reputation? Heh, I could amost see one faction spreading a false story about you to change your reputation in an area and the potential side-quest that would look into it and reveal the truth.. You don't have to take the quest, but then you'll have to deal with the Reputation shift....
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The one thing that bugs me most about the majority of dragons in fantasy games.. They are supposed to be these immensely powerful, intelligent beings who love to have hoards (for one reason or another)... so why are they usually presented as a slug-a-thon fighting beast loitering around in a cave waiting for adventurer's to come fight them? Have the dragon as the mastermind pulling strings, have minions and henchmen and be the one quietly running a grand trading network across the continent.. funneling the odd treasures across and not just being some brooding, waiting around for other people to do stuff. That's one of the reasons I like the dragons in Shadowrun so much. They have plans, they have politics, they have intrigue, and they use their intelligence.
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I think my response would be more based around it being DnD 4th Edition then strictly the MMO aspect. To be honest, any time I've tried sitting down and getting a feel for that edition it's made my skin crawl. The books have great art, but the mechanics just... It's almost as if they've tried shoe-horning WoW rules into a DnD format and made it very.. hack n slash n model combatty. So having them then transfer that back into a computer game just hits me with a firm wince and "no".
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They're doing the national tour again, so it's down South at the moment. I did go to London and see it some years ago, and that was worthwhile. But yes, the chandalier is much toned down. It used to be hanging closer to the theatre balcony and would actually drop and swing down above the audiences head before "landing" on the stage. Now it just kind of does some popping and light flickering and minor flash burst effects. Certainly not as dramatic. They have a big, semi-circular revolving wall/set piece that helps transfer from one set to another which is some slick, and I kind of admire the technical aspect of it, but they've turned that into the decent to the underground with steps that slowly project out and form great shadows... but I have to admit I miss the old school "see-saw" type runway in the fog that they used to use. It seemed a touch more moody and evocative... When Masquerade starts up, they've taken away the grand staircase design, turned it into a big flashy mirrored ballroom. Which makes the masquerade dance a lot more effective, but theh Phantom's entrance doesn't have quite the same oomf as his appearance on the stairs. And it also means they can't do the puff of smoke and the Phantom leaving through a trapdoor in the floor. Now it's just a case of pyrotechnics to the side to "scare" the crowd and he strides out the doors. And now the Phantom pulls a direct Obi-Wan style disapearance at the end. They no longer have that throne/chair in his lair that he settles into and then sinks in while covered in his cape. Now they actually have the mob find him there as he's wearing a big bulky hooded cloak, Meg Giry grabs his "shoulders", he takes a step.. and then the whole cloak flutters to the floor as if he's joined the Force and Become More Powerful Then You Could Ever Imagine with no Phantom or body in it. The music box is big and bulky..and the monkey is teeny-tiny. Which is kind of amusing. But seriously, the performances were all top notch. The music is good, although a couple of times they had it just at that point where it loud enough to swamp out the singing. Still entertaining, some interesting changes, but I don't think they all worked.
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Got suited up and went to the theatre. The new run of Phantom of the Opera. Some good performances and interesting in the way they've changed some of the set pieces, very slick on the way sets revolve back and forth, but I think somethings been lost in all of that. The drama of the Chandalier has gone from one that did a mock "fall" over the audiences heads to a few cracks and sparkles in said chandalier. A few other things like that.
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Rule 0 - It's about having fun, not following the explicit letter of the rules..
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Yeah, it's not like it's planned to one-up them like that. It's just the way I act. I got hammered with the old school chivalry and politeness which a fair few lost when it was considered non-pc and anti-feminist. As for the origami cranes.. If I'm not careful I tend to go on autopilot and make frogs. And it was more just a doodling around while a couple of folks vigerously discussed their parts of the evenings bill. So again, not exactly a planned "hit".
For the somewhat amusing anecdote, I was out at a restaurant with a group of mates and they'd all brought their assorted girlfriends.. But for some reason I was the only guy who was doing things like opening the door for the girls with us or pulling out the chairs to help them. Then at the end of the meal when we were sorting out the bill, I randomly turned the receipt into an origami crane and propped it on the bottle of wine... The girls promptly had this talk about how if their bf's had acted the way I had, and then ended a date with a "charming gesture" such as the origami crane, they'd have probably gotten lucky that night. And I then had them quizzing me on why I didn't have any date along since I was behaving like that naturally rather then putting it on for their benefits.
Make sure wherever you take her is somewhere you can actually talk without having to scream over background noise... The theatre can work, but doesn't provide huge amounts of room for talking during whatever show is on, and likewise dancing tends to have lots of background noise (especially depending on what type of dancing and where you go). You need some place you can converse, and see what connections you can make and just what interests you all might have. That and be calm and confident. Heh, I remember hearing a thing about how beautiful women actually don't get hit on sensibly a lot because most guys will feel they are "out of their league" and as such don't bother. So when someone does, if they're half-way charming they're already ahead of the game...
Pretty much any book that provides a campaign world, or an adventure will have a slew of maps in it relating to whatever it's talking about. Oh, if you're just looking to explore it all for young kids like that, there is a "Pathfinder Beginner's Box" which covers the basics, the dice, and a few other useful things. They also have a bunch of free pdf's that you can get hold of.. http://paizo.com/beginnerbox
Here Comes the Boom. Kevin James as 42 year old biology teacher given in to apathy who ends up getting a reawakening to save fellow teacher Henry Winkler's job and attempts to raise money for the music program by getting into mixed martial arts out of school... One of those odd films that follows the standards of the genre, and isn't particularly great (although Salma Hayak is one of the supporting characters) but still somehow manages to be fairly uplifting. Although the finale bit of Viva America and the whole push on America the land of Dreams is a wee bit over the top.
How NASA will build its very first Warp Drive
Every now and again Windows Explorer throws a corruption that causes it to utilise ridiculous amounts of the CPU. One of the easiest fixes is to transfer things out of that profile you want to keep, delete the profile, then create a new one. And it'll all be fine again. One of the many weirdness things of Microsoft Windows...
