Torpar

All right some more random facts I can think of... -Did you know that the Romans invented the first flushing toilet? -Did you know that eating chocolate can increase one's lifespan? -Did you know that the Mongolians were the first to practice biological warfare by catapulting corpses infected with the plague into enemy cities? -Did you know that the total surface area of an adult lung can cover a little more than a third of a tennis court? -Did you know that there were 20 Roman emperors during a 50 year period from 335 to 385 AD mostly because the successor was always murdering his predecessor? -Did you know that if you cut off an elephant's ears, it would die? -Did you know that a Xerxes led a Persian army which was 10 times the entire population of Greece to conquer the Greek city-states and still lost? -Did you know that the US was churning out 6 warships per day during World War II? -Did you know that (scientists predict) if humans never have existed, octopuses might be ruling the world today? -Did you know that if we condensed the entire timeline of Earth into a hour, the history of mankind would only be a fraction of the last second? -Did you know that if we condensed the entire timeline of Earth into a large tome, the history of mankind would only be the size of a period (saw this on Discovery the other day)? -Did you notice that you've just wasted several minutes reading through this post?

Some random facts off the top of my head... Did you know that the probability of getting a straight flush in a game of poker (5-card hand) is around 0.0014%? Did you know that humans have already used up 2/3 of Earth's total natural resources? Did you know that ants the size of elephants would crush under their own weight? Did you know that at the height of the Great Depression in Germany, the exhange rate was 1 dollar to 4.2 trillion marks? Did you know that Pyrrhus, a powerful Greek king, was killed by a simple village woman at Argos who chucked a roof tile at him? Do you know that England has never been invaded successfully by a foreign power since the 1066 Norman invasion? Did you know that world is actually an oblong ellipsoid (like a football) rather than a sphere? (No, I'm just joking there!)

God bless the old man. After achieving so many good deeds in life, dying serenely and mourned by millions of faithful followers worldwide is probably the best closing chapter for one who has been through and suffered so much. Whether Catholic or not and though you may not approve of his active interest in global affairs and religious conservatism, I think we can all agree that this is one man who has lived to his fullest. He may just be another pope in the course of the Church, but his achievements in life have earned in a place in the hearts of millions. And to the poster whose mother said he was "useless", that was a very unkind and thoughtless thing to say... He has, in 26 years, done more than what most of us could achieve in a lifetime. For that alone, I pay him my deepest respects...

Hmm... so there are multiple races (other than the Space Marines)?

Indeed, this is sad news. I've been following up on the Pontiff's condition since Friday when I learned of the infection. I'm not a devout Christian myself, but I do empthasize with the sorrow of millions of Catholics in the world. There has been much controversy on the stance that the Pope had taken in the past in world affairs, but no one can deny his contributions in trying to improve the world. He was a gentle man by all accounts, and I sincerely wish him the best. Unfortunately, recent news from the Vatican has not been optimistic... There is great danger of the Pope falling into a coma, and if he does... God bless him.

Thank you for all the suggestions thus far, everyone. Personally, I enjoy playing RTS matches online rather than just single-player. AI can just go as far as creating units and attacking you, but playing with real players provides more of a challenge, as you have to adapt quickly to your opponent's tactics and style... I've heard many complaints that RTS games were only about amassing a huge army and overwhelming the other player, but that in itself requires skill. Whoever is more capable of building a larger army in a shorter amount of time wins... I've looked up Warhammer: Dawn of War, and it looks like a worthy title - reviewers said that it had a good backstory, excellent 3-D graphics, and entertaining gameplay. However, it does seem that the game lacks variability, as it only allows you to play one race... Also, I was wondering - does the game support multiplayer?

Own the game, and I cannot say I'm too satisfied with it. The major problem is that the gameplay is too complicated. Resource harvesting is slow and painstaking, and there are just simply too many aspects to consider. There is little variability to the game. I like the feature how civilizations can advance from one age to another, but there too many stages, and resource harvesting is so cumbersome that advancement soon becomes a dull process. The original excitement fades out quickly because the game almost always drags into an arms race which takes hours and hours of tedious gameplay... Instead of trying to cover the entire history of the human race in a single game, I think the developers should have just picked a certain era, as they did for Age of Empires... Anyways, thanks for the suggestions, folks. I'll be sure to look up Dawn of War.

Thanks, Monte. I've seen Rome: Total War, and it looks fairly complicated (mostly manuevering your army to gain advantages against the opposing army)... I've never heard of Warhammer before, so I'll check out as it sounds promising.

Darth Vader (to Lando): "I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further."

Hello my fellow gamers, Any suggestions for a good RTS title? I've been playing RTS games since the antediluvian days when Command and Conquer was still popular. I enjoyed Red Alert, WarCraft, Age of Empires, my favorite so far being StarCraft. However, I'm quite disappointed with the lack of new and satisfying RTS releases (WarCraft III was good, but still fell a little short of my expectations) these days. I was wondering if someone could recommend a decent, well-balanced RTS game to me. Any opinions or inputs would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, folks.

Apart from Sin City, among Miller's best known works are the Spiderman, Daredevil, and Batman comics. Miller greatly improved the character of Batman, giving him a darker, deeper backstory and more human qualities. He also created Ronin, an obscure sci-fi story about a samuari who travels to the future (if my memory is correct). Not sure about this, but I think Miller also worked on the RoboCop movies (which I was an avid fan of when I was younger - I watched most of them, believe it or not)... Hope that helps...

How much money does Lucas intend to squeeze out of three movies? As if he hadn't earned enough already...

Definitely looking forward to seeing this movie... Frank Miller's works in the past have been just pure genius (he "humanized" most of the superheroes we know today and made them popular). The trailer was nice, but a little disappointing as it was just random crumbs and pieces of action...

It makes them feel like martyrs of a holy cause - and to them, there is much honor in it. True, but it begs the question: why are the leaders inclined towards violence? And what is their true motive behind spreading fear? If the terrorists are so fervorous and radical, they must truly believe in what they are fighting for. I'll wait to be enlightened then...

It's easy to judge good and evil unmixed, and in the west, we are quick to condemn those who resort to subterfuge and violence to achieve their means. Why is there terrorism in the first place? People do not just kill other people for no reason. Terrorists adhere to their beliefs as strongly as we do to ours, and are just as willing to use force to hold up to them as we do. Unfortunately, in a face-to-face battle, the terrorists are sure losers, so what else can they do but resort to guerrilla combat and suicide bombing? In war, end justifies means. However, to the rest of the world, these actions make terrorists seem cowardly and treacherous, while in truth, they're fighting for their beliefs as the democratic powers (supposedly) are. No, I am not defending the terrorists nor do I approve of their actions in any way, but I think the definition of "terrorist" fundamentally depends on the particular perspective. If we were put into the same situation, we would probably do the same thing. I admire what the US is trying to do in the Middle East, but the problem is that liberal reforms are brought into effect too quickly in such a conservative and traditional region. It's like trying to force-feed a nutrient broth to a man who has fed on scraps all his life. It may be good for him, but the important question is: will he like it? Every person has a basic sense of human dignity, and to be treated thus may seem like an insult. What terrorists do is wrong, but they are not inherently inclined towards violence. I think the US is missing the point here. I know many people have said this before, but capturing the terrorist leader or crushing the terrorists by force is just going to compound the anger and make them seem like martyrs to their people. What is important is to solve the problem (not complicate it) by applying a more moderate and gradual approach towards foreign policy in the Middle East. Terrorism essentially feeds on nationalistic anger. Suppressing it is just going to exacerbate the situation. An interesting point to note is that terrorism is a relatively new phenomenon - there were no signs of it present up until the mid-twentieth century... I pass the floor to someone else.

It's more than just saving your sister. Confronting Irencus is a part of your destiny to find out more about the secrets of your heritage (just as Luke had to face Darth Vader in the end when he had many other alternatives). Even if you were not motivated by a sense of kinship, you could still be tempted by the dreams of promised power. This "man" holds a crucial piece of the puzzle - what reason is there NOT to go after him (even if it means saving your whinning sister)? If not for Imoen, then for yourself. Besides, as a Bhaalspawn, what else can you do except embark on epic quests?

The Icewind Dale series are more of a hack-and-slash RPG. If you're inclined towards a more roleplaying-oriented game, then BGII is your choice. It's not uncommon to be a bit confused at first, but you'll get used to the system after several hours of gameplay. And as many of the above posters have said, the game is certainly worth playing through, so don't give up!

Sigh... I'm going to miss these forums. I do enjoy reading the banter between members here, although I am unable to contribute much to their discussions. The people here are humorous, informative, and a little eccentric - which is what I find most appealing of the Obsidian forums... Well, until the boards reopen again, Torpar PS. Has it been confirmed that Obsidian will be closing the forums? The Annoucement has only said that the staff is considering it...

The Empire should have conscripted the ewoks into its army instead using Stormtroopers... I've always wondered what the function of the Stormtrooper armor was - it's heavy, cumbersome, but it only takes one blaster shot to kill a Stormtrooper...

No wonder I thought the question to be strange... Seems like I've misread it. My pardons, LordRaven.

1 GB of physical memory is definitely not enough by modern standards (most computers today have more than 20 GB)... You may be able to play most of the older games, but the newer generation of PC games are requiring more and more space, so it would be wise to purchase more than one extra GB of memory (as there many good games - especially RPGs - that take up more than 1 GB of space)...

Even though the BioBoards are slow, I like the friendly atmosphere of the BioWare community (one of the best moderated forums I've visited) - the posters there are active, enthusiastic, and helpful. I see no harm or drawback in this move at all. However, if I had a choice, I would prefer the NWN2 forums stay on the Obsidian Boards because, as many have previously stated, Obsidian is developing the game, not BioWare. If you truly care about the development of NWN2, don't be discouraged by this move. It's not the end of the world...

The Da Vinci Code was a fairly good read. It started out strong, with an intriguing plot, but as the above poster mentioned, the characters were painfully flat and uninteresting. However, the idea of the story is novel and creative (especially of the hidden clues)... It's far from being historically accurate, but it's a good book to kill time with (that is, if you have too much of it). If you liked this book, you should probably want to try out Brown's other novel Angels and Demons, which, albeit a little less well known, is a slightly better read (though the ideas are strikingly similar)...

The highest tsunamis sighted have been reported to be around 30-50 meters, but don't be too surprised - tsunamis with heights of 85 meters (virtually as tall as a skyscraper) were seen off the coast of Japan before... According to the footage I saw on the news, some of the tsuamis that hit the shores were taller than the tropical trees on the beach...