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Farbautisonn

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Everything posted by Farbautisonn

  1. Ofcourse. Which was the point I was making. Thats grand. I just hope you never get tested and that you one day find the codex so you can share the facit with the rest of the world. The examples are not silly. Ask most people who have been deployed. Ask any military academy or at any military barracks. There is a reason why the military has rulebooks for "Code of Conduct" and also have classes in Ethics and especially applied ethics. They arent exceptions either. As for "Ethics are absolute within a given context", thats a sentence that in its very nature is subjective and as such not absolute because context can and will vary in any number of ways. People under orders do the strangest things. Waterboarding for instance. Killing off a village, burning down the ancesteral homes, deploy WMD's etc. The american definition of code becomming an officer differs significantly from those of a European or a middle eastern code. So... define "sensible orders".
  2. Im sorry. I prefer to observe "The Silence of the Lambs" in lieu of "the fifth".
  3. Went to work, came home, put Sinatra on the speakers and started cooking. Will have my kids an extra weekend. Should be fun.
  4. Strict adherence to philosophies, religion, codes or creeds have a tendency to breed intolerance and demonisation of anyone "not us". And Moralities/ethics arent absolute. Staying clear of the most inflammable examples lets regard warfare: You and your unit come under an attack from a couple of snipers sitting in a civillian building. The most effective solution is that of calling in an artillery/airstrike on that building flattening it. However the building is filled with civvies. Getting them killed is both immoral and unethical as well as counterproductive to winning hearts and minds. However those two sinpers can take out 5 plus guys with regular intervals which breeds resentment in the unit. What do? Its not clear cut. Also, youre in a third world nation and a girl and her familys buffalo get run over by an APC (Armoured personell carrier). The fater comes running and starts crying obsceneties at the squad. He is desperate and saddened... not for the loss of his daughter. But for the buffalo that ensures that he can feed the other 5 members of his family. The girl he can allways get a new one of. Do you distance yourself from the guy and disregard him, ensuring that he and his sons might turn to the local militia, or do you pay compensation with lots of undestanding for the loss of the animal? What do? Your unit has captured a series of guerillas and you have put them through the polygraph. The local militia leader who is your liason and a guy you depend on both for military, social, cultural and political support is standing next to you and when he figures out how the polygraph works, he exclamates: "Wonderfull, now we know who to torture". Do you take that up with your superiors, distancing yourself from torture and the culture your liason lives in, or do you disregard it and let the prisoners be tortured? What do? Your unit looses 3 guys of your own unit and 2 of your local scouts whilst comming under attack. You find them later up the trail, tortured to death. However one of your kit carson scouts tracks the unit responsible and you soon find and capture the irregulars responsible for the deed. The mood of the unit is one of a lynch mob and you have to make a call. You successfully talk down your own guys but the LT of the militia isnt budging. He wants to put the unit you captured through the same thing that happened to his soldiers. And if he cant be allowed to do so, he will take his unit and leave. What do? You are the Ateam leader of a group of Special Forces guys who have successfully made contact with a very important tribe in the region. You are making progress but something is lacking. The locals want you to grow beards, get tattoos and wear brass rings signifying you as members of the tribe. The ceremony also involves heavy drinking and beating several animals to death in a ritual. Also to your horror they have paraded 4 girls, barely into their teens, before you whom they want you to "marry" to become fully fledged members. Your superiors have told you that you absolutely need this tribes support. Denying the above will ruin any trust you have built, and will likely be percieved as a grave offense to the tribe. What do? The above arent hypothetical examples. They are examples that your Special Forces and regular army units face every single day in the third world. They have been facing them since 63. (Read Robin Moores "The green berets" and forget about the movie). Most of us can discern what we in the west would percieve to be the "moral high ground"... however those moralities have costs we might not want or be able to bear. So... does "bending the rules" make you less moral? Your marriage to the teen harem and having sex with them might ensure that hundreds of lives are saved, thousands perhaps, and ensure military success beyond your wildest dreams. But youre married at home and the girls are not even as old as your youngest daughter. You might even have to leave the tribe behind at the drop of a hat. Its not an easy choise and the moralities become significantly more gray when there are costs to them.
  5. Im not sure I could handle the awesomeness of a mustache. I would feel like I was metagaming and using console commands to win the game.
  6. Thats one way of putting it. However if youve seen the artwork for the synths in Wasteland two, it might work. At least as an option.
  7. As long as the discussion is not about game romance. There is a reason I havent participated in that thread.... As for "Respectfull conversation" pr the OPs initial post. Im all for it but we come from different backgrounds and we do have strong opinions. Some of us take critizism better than others, and some of us like a heated and passionate discussion rather than a misundestood compromise. I think this forum is one of the better, no doubt, but I dont think you can avoid controversy, trolls and a heated discourse.
  8. Dualyield? Is that, like, one nuke in each hand? Sorry, I couldn't resist. Sorry. I'll go now. Youre going to hell for that bit. :D.
  9. True. My first experiences with paladins and the people who played them arent really positive. I ended up getting him killed. Twice. The alignment shift from LN to LE was worth it.
  10. For the republicans to win they will need to can a significant portion of their electorate. The ultra religious portion mainly. I wont discount republicans. They have many good and skilled politicians and despite the "obvious win", when you look at the demographic percentile of voters for each party, less than 7 pct make the difference between success and failiure. But if I were a political advisor for the republicans Id distance myself from the teaparty sufficiantly to be called "my own man", go poaching for votes in traditionally democratic topics such as a pro choise, pro intellectual, pro gays rights, and maintain a sharp fiscal conservatism. I actually think a candidate with those views a bit of money and some good rhetoric could win by a landslide. However that would almost certainly require a splintering of the bipartisan system and the way that the american election system is cobbled togetther (winner takes all) it wont happen. People allready in power have too much to loose and they wont vote for changes to the bureaucracy that puts themselves at risk.
  11. I cant really disagree here but for new players it was a good introduction to the IP and for oldtimers it did bring back both memories and a promise of something better. Some of us fans have the equvalent of a Ph.D. in the lore and have religiously read any post on NMA and from the creators. I didnt expect that level of dedication from Bethesda. So I wasnt too dissapointed. Ill agree with that. Entering DC was eerie yet homely. I personally never liked VATS much. Too much "I win" feature. But it was a nice touch for some. As I tend to play as a sneaky pete with stealth and sniper kit up close, the mechanics were decent. I wasnt expecting anything epic. I was a fanboi for a very long time. Too long in retrospect. I hated the DAO DLC and DA2 I never even bought out of advice from other mates. ME2 was decent only because the storyline for the companions was deep. The main questline was too short and not that well told. I wasnt extatic. And when the ME3 demo came out... and I saw the "emperors new clothes" esque peniswhipping from both devs, magazines and the fps console attention deficit crowd I litterally flipped over and became an outspoken antagonist of anything Bioware. Bottom line is that I expected alot more from the company that had brought me so many good stories only to see them burn the storyline on the sacrificial alter of "streamlining" *cough* FPS console easy to digest Idiocy *cough*. I wasnt the only one. The people left on the bioware forums are the trolls, malcontents, and MP fanbois. And even if DA3 turns out to be an epic game that makes LotR seem like infantile crap, its going to have to stand up to such massive sceptizism that I dont think it will float. Again the Arena setting is different and caters to a different crowd than us. Some overlapping ofcourse. I loved Daggerfall, and I loved Morrowind. Havent played Skyrim yet. And personally I think the writing has gotten progressively better. And I still think that "The Pitt" is a diamond in storytelling. Its rare that I dont see things comming a mile away. I didnt at all in the pitt. Plus I really hated ulysses. Everything about him went on my nerves. So... my subjective taste dictates that not even Obsidian can get it right all of the time.
  12. Considering the pandering to an abject moron as Michael Moore and an equally abject failiure as Carter, Id say pragmatism is relative... at best. .
  13. Cannot believe that Jesper Kyd wasnt mentioned yet. Aside from A , the Series and of stuff he has an eerie ability to capture the essence of a game and then add a twist to it. Absolutely love the guy to the point where I buy everything the guy publishes. Mark Morgan who wrote the theme music for the Modron Cube in PST... I still listen to that. . Inon Zur and especially Jeremy Soule have been done allready and are almost static in their approach to fantasy themes. It gets old fast. They are still great composers, sure, but I am getting fed up with them.
  14. I'm guessing, and really hoping, that the Republican party will be making some big changes to become more relevant in the next election. A good first step would be to jettison some of the crazier elements. Well... that goes for both parties. Bipartisanship in politics leaves alot of middle ground in the toilet.
  15. I know Im a glutton for humiliation and for extremely time consuming and expensive skill sets but I enjoyed the Everquest crafting system. It took time, took resources and for a casual player could be a real effort. I dont really appreciate being able to spend 30 gold florins (or whatever the equivalent for a evening binge in local alcohol would cost) and 2 hrs of gametime to become a grandmaster craftsman. Seems ****ing ridiculous and pandering for the attention defecit crowd to me.
  16. If people just want a "bigger toolbox" why not go with a bethsoft esque skill system where you can wear plate, dualyield, pickpocket and cast fireballs at the same time? Thats all the freedom in the world and the ultimate toolbox? Wouldnt make much sense to me as Hawkins might be a brilliant mathematician and physcisist, I kinda suspect he is an extremely crappy linebacker.
  17. Not to mention elitist and arrogant. But I like the latter two qualities in a person, and I dont mind the first two as long as Im doing the long bitching.
  18. Considering they can laugh all the way to the bank in the gaming industry, I really wouldnt concern myself too much. Besides. You cant please everyone and Bethsoft hasnt been voted "worst company in america" by disgruntled users yet. What once set the industry benchmark for excellence in storytelling also set the benchmark for utter disaster. And at least we are rather sure that bethesda will continue to listen. They did after all outsource their game to Obsidian for a good story. Shows good will. There is no "DAO DLC crap disaster" (everything in between) ME3 pattern to judge them on. So. Im going to be optimistic.
  19. I actually think what you are looking for is more of a "Varangian" class rather than a "paladin" class.
  20. If Im a high end businessman Ill do charity where I get the most bang for the buck. Inflating my workers wages artificially isnt going to be percieved as a good nor smart thing. Patriotism has little place in a global economy. It doesnt pay the rent or dividends to my shareholders. It doesnt buy my Vegas Shopping Spree or the Turkey handouts for thanksgiving either.
  21. "...If your DM is decent..." being the key here. We won't have a DM in this game, or in any CRPG for that matter. Actually we do. The writers of the game. If they leave me completely baffled storywise without a chance to anticipate just how hard an encounter is (for instance), then they have failed in storywriting and they break suspension of disbelief. Then I go hunting for more mistakes. Its what happened when I played ME3 and FO3. Even if Fo3 wasnt nearly as bad as ME3 it still left me with "what the fu.ck" moments when I held it up to the lore I allready knew.
  22. We ought to make a thread called "If you did "x" ....you might be your DM's pestilence".
  23. Well.... no rules without exceptions I suppose...
  24. Well, I do hope you are right. However its by no means a given. The republicans do have to stay true to some ideals and have to fight for their own policy. They have to fight for the people who voted them into office. Its not just the fiscal cliff. Obama has to address that, yes, but he also has to both generate jobs, and encourage business oppertunities and possibilities as well as address a huge fiscal deficit. He has to do everything at once, whilst having promised his electorate things he might not be able to achieve and almost certainly not to the degree he has promised. Its not an easy task, and it wouldnt be, even if he had both houses in Congress. If he ends up dissapointing his own electorate, both his place in history and the next election might be compromised. After all, while he did win, it wasnt by a huge demographic vote (and yes I know the "winner takes all system ) I'd be a bit cautious to be as sure as you are. Sure Obama wouldnt ever impose Hollande esque punitive taxes of 75% for the very highest earners, but alot less will generate considerable resentment amongst the people who now hold the venture capital and the ability to generate jobs. They only need to leave their money with their investment bankers and accountants to ensure that Obama will have a very hard time of generating the promised level of employment. He will need to take their advice seriously. And most of them are not people who voted for the guy. Some of them really... really dislike him. Again, thats completely true. However the definition of "confiscatory level" is one that is highly subjective. For some of the people who voted republican, that definition will be reached alot sooner than most might think. A five percent hike for a company that makes hundreds of thousands might not be "punitive". But for a company that makes billions and has a product that isnt subjective to the absolute need of being situated stateside, alot of production could be outsourced to nations where even a couple of percent could make all the difference for shareholders and owners. Especially if its producing labour intensive products. Obama does have to factor in both the gain and the loss of revenue, and workplaces. He cannot focus solely on the tax revenue. Its not a magic wand. I realize that. However the guy does amuse me in the "what the **** is wrong with you" sense. Thanks for the heads up, nevertheless.
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