Gorth

Agree. That particular game mechanic is a bit silly. Like an emergency "win" button (Dragon Age Origins had it too). Been doing something similar though *), if nothing else, because I had a humongous stockpile of gifts. Two toons had an entire cargo bay page (or tab or whatever) each full of companion gifts. At one time, I wasn't really sure what crafting material I was going to need, so my crew would craft gifts if nothing else, just to raise their crafting skills. Still got the equivalent of a cargo bay section with gifts of all qualities (green, blue and purple). While companion affection comes slowly in the beginning, some of the last dialogues gives surprisingly many affection points. The last 2k points does indeed come relatively easy through ship dialogues. Not sure if my Bounty Hunter is going to max out HK's affection, but if not, hopefully some other toon will eventually. In many ways, my BH is my guinea pig, boldly going where no Gorth has gone before and testing the waters for those toons that follow through the game. Probably made every mistake in the book along the way. Currently in the middle of the Voss story line, so still a bit of way to go (never been to Corellia yet). *) I noticed that the affection level has brackets where you get more bang for your buck for gift levels. 1-2000 for level 1, 2000-4000 for level 2 gifts etc. Edit to add: Good to know. Some of the digging wasn't so bad, but the dark temple area was pretty big and pretty tedious. Didn't really expect him to magically jump out of my pocket, fully reassembled, once getting my hands on the last part

I suppose I can answer my own question with certainty now. Hard mode 'The Foundry' will do for the HK part. I did start to worry though, after playing all the way through it an no drops with it until final boss fight. Lo and behold, it was sitting on a shelf next to the loot treasure chest, disguising itself like a Korriban lore object. Well, one more down, single part left on the list. There's probably more to do afterwards, but at least it should be possible to do a hard mode 'False Emperor' next weekend if I time it correctly (busy hours on the server).

Moved to tech section (didn't really seem game related). I'm one of those who've been using FoxIt for years. Not to sure about the performance questions, as the amount of pdf files I work with is few and far between. Most of the stuff I access is Word documents retrieved from Sharepoint.

You guys use VOIP (Mumble, Ventrilo etc.)?

Everything XCOM should have been but will never be.

I would say yes. If you just want to have a look at it, that is the way to go. If you want to play it for more than a few days... Then this is the way to go. You get a virtual lot for those $5. Heck, even if it's just buying an expansion for your inventory or an extra crewskill when you reach level 10. Also takes your default number of creatable characters from 2 to 6, so you try out a few more classes without having to delete your previous creations. If you then decides it sucks, You've lost the equivalent of a burger meal and some hours of your life.

I have a duo of level 19-20 toons doing nothing but slicing/treasure hunting (a mix of lockboxes, companion gifts for the criticals giving schematics and generally just sticking with the "rich" missions) and then sending the stuff to the "real" crafters. Mainly it's what Hassat mentioned though, keep an eye out for high value items that people try desperately to get rid of, hang on to them for a few months and then sell them. Also bought a few hypercrates over the last 6 months. Didn't get any lizards, but got a shipload of the rare and pricey crystals (hot orange and similar). Tried the last shipment and ended up with almost 3 complete sets of Cassus Fett armour. Sold for ridiculous credits on GTN. I still don't know who Cassus Fett was, but I thank him for allowing me to get some riding lizards. Good bargains in the past includes dyes (bought pink/purple and purple/pink dyes for less than 5k at one point), bastilas armour, handmaiden (bought a few dozen cuffs and boots for 2-10k on the old Apac server before moving) etc. bought for very cheap and now selling for outrageous prices to people with credits but no access (or no real world money) to get the old crates anymore.

Ah, not *too* bad then. Since I splurged 8 million on a pair of Varactyls (one of each) I suppose I can afford to unlock a few HK's. It's not like each and every toon is going to get him from level 1 anyway (which would be not only patently silly, but rather boring I could imagine).

Well, problem is, I can't queue in group finder for story mode False Emperor It's either soloing it or hard mode. I just so happen to have a level 51 commando on the Republic side, so he should be capable of doing those bits for me on that side of the fence.

Exactly. As soon as I see the r*** t*** two word combo, I go "lalalalaa!" hear no evil, see no evil. A pox upon Westwood Studios for releasing this plague on the gaming world in 1992 If it had been completely optional without detrimental effects of never doing that part, then maybe... just maybe.

Good to know. That means my republic toon will have to repeat the process. Ah well, at least the part up to this point wasn't so bad. Sucks having to queue for specific flashpoints though (I know, it's petty, but the handful of commendations you otherwise get are good for saving up and buying purple artifact boxes, the content of which you *can* send to other toons). Edit: I know it has to be hard mode The Foundry, but will any mode False Emperor do? I can't queue for story mode on that one (I'm good at soloing level 50 heroics, but I don't think I would survive that one)

As dead as a Norwegian Blue.

Russian settlers and fishermen could be found all the way down to northern California. Just imagine Gorod Angelov (google translate) instead of Los Angeles But that is a bit off topic. Never got into the total war games since RTS isn't my kind of action game. Not even with a "historical" flavour. Now I have a sudden craving for Europa Universalis: Rome.

One fringe benefit of this time zone, it is indeed completely empty. Once met a speeder traveling the other direction. Neither of us felt inclined to get off our bikes and fight (he was probably there by necessity too). Yeah, now the item preview doesn't work there either. In fact, it only works on items in your inventory now Well, once I worked out a "routine" it wasn't so bad. I found it easier as imperial, because of less travel restrictions. 5 nests within easy travel distance and then swap instance, rinse and repeat. Unless particularly unlucky, you can get 6-8 domestication data in 45 minutes. I combine it with a GSI mission or two and go digging with my seeker droid anyway while there. Got 4 tauntauns (2 tundra, 2 mountain) so far, 2 of which is gathering dust in a cargo bay. Couldn't make up my mind what toon to give them to (since they are not "unlockable"). I just read through the newly introduced bugs. This was one of them (to be corrected) as was a missing armour (which I don't miss). Not getting into the whole "end game" thing yet. So, got the last excavatable part of HK-51. Now for the two required flashpoints. I wonder if they are legacy bound, like the Coruscant part (so I can send any toon on the FP's) or if it has to be the guy that started the quest that has to do it?

Finally got around to play a bit of Europa Universalis IV "for real". Started a game as Denmark. Takes a bit getting used to some of the changes. Many things are similar to III yet suddenly there are things that are different. Not a fan of the UI though (UI, not the AI which I haven't really tested yet). Doesn't scale well at all with high resolution monitors. I simply can't see the icons or read the texts. I think I'll have to search around and see if it isn't possible to change the fonts in the game.

You shock me... as an Englishman even asking that question??? Seriously, if I could impress somebody like Diana Rigg, I would walk around with an umbrella on a sunny day

That reminded me, that I had a pair of Vaya Con Dios cd's that could use a bit of dusting off. Then I started browsing my old collection, succumbing to a bit of nostalgia. Found a lot of great music which was the latest news at the time and now is "ancient" history The Cult - She Sells Sanctuary http://youtu.be/ErgzObQJMPM

You have been really lucky if you met one of those only just now, or by some miracle their numbers have dropped during the last months. **** like that are just one more reason to find a guild you like and do every single flashpoint/operation with people you like playing with. No more tanks who aren't even tanks or don't have a single idea what they are doing. No more dps who agro everything in 10 mile radius and cry about noob team when they die. No more healers who think they are dps and let others die out of laziness. Seriously, it makes the game much much more enjoyable. I could easily believe that. The challenge is living in this timezone. My main guy is a member of a guild with a few hundred members. On a good day, there may be one or two besides me online (I asked one once, and apparently, my best gaming time is around 2:00am US west coast time) Voss had a staggering population of 8 imperials last time I visited. You try to put together people for a heroics Weekends are slightly better, since I can play the early morning hours here when not at work and you have a chance of joining a PUG as an unaffiliated DPS (my sniper is not member of anything). Most of the time, "socialising" is not really an option. I think I should go looking for a dedicated Apac guild some day for both republic and empire characters. Working from home today, I managed to put in 40 minutes before server shutdown. Found two HK pieces, one on Dromund Kaas (an arm I think) and one on Taris (a chassis). The latter while admin was announcing 2 minutes until shutdown. Cutting it close Edit: @Raithe: Well, that sucks, especially if you didn't queue originally as a tank.

Another thing I learnt over the weekend... it's important to read the fine print on your off-hand shield/generator. For most of the game, my commando has been running around with the "wrong" type generator. I duly put in 'aim' mods and boosted surge/critical (what I thought appropriate for a healer). Only thing is, reading the stat boosts, the bloody thing has been boosting my *force* powers all this time rather than my tech power. Yay Gorth Sold the piece of junk (after ripping out the mods at great expense) and installed them in a new generator (lowest level moddable sold on fleet). Suddenly I got +500 or so tech power instead of force power. Met a guy in a flashpoint over the weekend that went straight to my ignore list. My sniper was doing The Foundry and ended up with a tank that was... not a tank. One thing was, he was dressed in all the cartel stuff (Series 512 droid stuff). Never mind that, but he kept losing health at an appalling rate and after two healers quit the flashpoint, I did something unusual and 'inspected' him. Surprise (not really), the idiot had all critical and surge mods, not a single defense, shield or absorb boost. The crowning achievement? Not even a frigging shield in his off-hand, but a generator. When pointing it out, I got some bizarre whisper back, that at these levels (around 40) it's much better to have this kind of gear than defensive gear. Yeah, right. Mr. Moron apparently just wanted to skip the queue in the queue finder. Worst. tank. ever. Made a note of his name to add to the ignore lists of my other toons.

Not sure what the difference is between serf and slaves attending the cotton fields in Virginia to be honest. I would consider conquering most of Asia, all the way to China and down to India a testament to good military skills. The Tartars and Mongols were no slouch in a fight. Until the start of 1900 (where the US started to catch up) Britain was pretty much the only thoroughly industrialised country in the world, having a head start over the rest (most of Europe being agrarian too, although the Germans did a good try catching up after WWI). Russias size was both its blessing and its curse. It provided resources and manpower but made pre-industrialisation infrastructure a logistical nightmare. Only by being utterly ruthless can/could you build an infrastructure on such a vast scale necessary to integrate the provinces. The colonial powers wrote the book, Russia read it and implemented it domestically. Size also means slower exchange of ideas for such simple reasons that they have to travel longer. Western Europes capitals being within a few days horse ride of each other provided an advantage, not because it was actively discouraged in Russia, it was simply just not practical.

I don't think you can dig up that part, iirc it's only purchasable from that jawa. Also, the pvp flag will go away by itself if you spend five minutes in a safe zone, ie your ship. Right you are. And yes, I know (now) how to get rid of the PVP flag. First thing that fooled me was, I manually have to flag it as on (despite it already being "on") first, then unflag it again. No PVP activity seems to be a generous interpretation, as reality seems to lean towards no activity whatsoever in a resting place @ShadySands: Ah, if it actually drops in the wrong FP, that would explain how he ended up with it. I was doing a few quick runs at one time, just to rack up some social points. Found a few other level 40+ guys that wanted in on the fun, so it took no time to cruise through it.

I'm too "new" to have tried the Gree stuff yet. But I do indeed see the potential for ruining other peoples day if they do such design "features". Speaking of "features", I'm still trying to work out how one of my toons came into possession of both a Black Talon *and* an Esseles off-hand shield generator in his inventory. I can't remember when I noticed it the first time, but something tells me it shouldn't really be possible.

The best way to fight stone age people is education, enlightenment and more education. Notice how they regard education and intelligent people as the greatest threat to "their way of life"?

Yeah, it's harmless. Just one little fix, how bad can it be? You can control it and quit it any time you don't feel like it anymore and go back to being your old self