Gambler

Reply to Brad's Impulse Launch Review in Personal Computing Stardock Forums

I'd like to say that your (plural) replies to Mumblefratz aren't really fair First, saying "our target audience is people who like our software, so if you don't like it, then we don't care about you" is not a valid (albeit commonly used) reply at all. Target audience is for authors to consider while they develop their product. It's not a valid classification of actual end users. Second, the things that are lost when moving from downloadable patches to some kind of "distr

Reply to Impulse to deliver next-generation PC platform in Personal Computing GalCiv2 Forums

This sounds great. I especially like the idea about self-publishing after approval. It strikes a good middle ground between throwing stuff online without any control, and releasing a game through a huge micromanaging publisher. The re-branding thing also looks very promising. Once again StarDock shows the capacity to think outside of the box. However, there are some obvious questions. 1. What will the server side look like? Naturally, people might be wary of relying on some ult

Reply to Greensburg,a town in america destroyed by a tornado that is going to be buit back as one of the first green(ecofriendly) commity in the world in Everything Else GalCiv2 Forums

Okay, a lawnmower running for 2 hours produces as much [i]pollution[/i] as a car running over a period of one week. If you want sources, here you go: http://www.mindfully.org/Air/Lawn-Mower-Pollution.htm That's not my source, but whatever. [quote]I did live briefly in Dayton, Ohio, where the city paid $100 IIRC for anyone willing to replace a gas mower with an electric, just to help prevent some of the smog.[/quote] So? I was saying that all this "green" bullshit is about se

Reply to Greensburg,a town in america destroyed by a tornado that is going to be buit back as one of the first green(ecofriendly) commity in the world in Everything Else GalCiv2 Forums

Green. This word is everywhere. On the radio, online, in the junk mail, on the promotional cardboards and soy milk crates. It is the biggest attempt at inducing mass-hysteria I've seen in my life. Every blood-sucking corporation with extra cash to spare tries to use ecology as a cattle rod for consumers. Every media outlet with mummified conscience joyfully cover science-fiction "solutions" that will, at best, produce no results. In the mean time, doable things that actually can have some positi

AMD Game! in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

I've already posted this thing in another thread, but I think it deserves a separate topic. AMD wants to standardize gaming machines. I guess that's partly because of desperation, since Intel and nVidia are leading the market right now. But the idea itself is good. Kind of. There is no clear upgrade plan, the specs are somewhat weird, and I can't find a complete certified system anywhere to check the price. Why do we need specs for ga

Reply to Why PC Gaming is Dying in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

Speaking of system requirements, AMD wants to create a standard for gaming PCs. I've said it's a good idea as early as 2 years ago. AMD's specs look expensive, but in fact they are pretty reasonable in price (less than one grand). The only thing missing is a sensible upgrade scheme. http://game.amd.com/us-en/amdgame_testedconfigurations.aspx?p=1

Reply to A few reasons why I'll never use Windows Vista again... in Personal Computing GalCiv2 Forums

It's annoying how some people always claim that nothing can be changed, that their favorite product is "just there", that you have to accept it and shut up. The reality is, voicing discontent with crap products is an essential responsibility of smart consumers. And it works too. Dell tried to dump XP. Then their sales fell, and they changed their mind. Go to their website, look for yourself.

Reply to Population Unhappy Because of too much Population? in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

I wish there was a way of capping population directly, rather than by not building farms. It would be interesting to have "farming worlds" just like we have dedicated industry and science planets.

Reply to Why PC Gaming is Dying in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

Yeah, Black Isle, Looking Glass Studio, Troika Games...

Reply to New copy protection comming for Spore and Mass Effect (EA) in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

This is getting ridiculous. It is indeed simpler to bittorent those games, rather than dealing with all the "protection". They aren't protecting games from pirates, they are protecting them from their customers. Last time I bought a SecuRom game (World in Conflict), I had to download the bloody thing on my computer through LAN, because SecuROM screwed up my DVD drivers in such a way that would make SecuRom DVDs invisible for the system. (I'm not kidding.) Also, what the hell i

Reply to KOTOR2, another unfinished game in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

KotOR2 was superior to the first part in pretty much all aspects except combat: story, characters, setting development, meaningful use of all skills. It's a rare game where hacking and engineering skills allowed you to do all kind of things, constantly. Your abilities also heavily influenced dialogs, and the way you could interface with computers. It was not really finished, bur at least the devs tried to step beyond mediocrity. Heck, it's the most meaningful thing set in SW universe I've ever s

Reply to What is the'karma' rating next to people's names? in Everything Else GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]@Gambler: At least it will push some people to help.[/quote] "We are the Helpful Community. Resistance is futile. You WILL be assimilated."

Reply to What is the'karma' rating next to people's names? in Everything Else GalCiv2 Forums

I highly dislike karma and other kinds of forum ranks, because they inevitably lead to some people posting for karma. The only karma system that I've seen work is Ebay ratings, but that's because you have to buy or sell stuff before voting.

Reply to Just bought Sins but I have win2k and it will not let me install in Technical Sins Forums

[quote]If there isn't a workaround, I don't see how the OP is entitled to money back, the specs both online and on the box clearly state that WinXP SP2 is the minimum software supported.[/quote] Reading posts like this makes me glad I didn't buy the game. [quote]Win 2000 was about the most stable OS Microsoft ever came out with.[/quote] It's the most stable desktop Windows (not sure about 2003), and it's the fastest one that still works. Because of that many companies that actu

Reply to Runnable in Windows 2000? in Technical Sins Forums

If the game doesn't support 2000 I'm not going to buy it, especially considering the user reviews I've seen. [quote]It is out of Stardocks control because it is microsoft who usually makes things incompatible with their "Libarys" and what not. Blame microsoft not Stardock and Ironclad[/quote] Anyone can use some fancy DLL and then say, "well, only Vista supports it, we can't do nothing". The reality is, Microsoft makes it more difficult to support older OSes, but the final

Reply to Best PC Games of 2007 in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

[quote="AlmostDecent"]How can you say that a grade given by an editorial staff is significant, but that the average grade of THREE editorial staff members is not?[/quote] Long answer: http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/lanier06/lanier06_index.html My answer: I said "It's one thing thing to be [b]nominated[/b] by editorial staff, it's another thing to be [b]nominated[/b] by a statistical flux." Nomination for game of the year is (when it's done by people) a symbolic/conceptual

Reply to Best PC Games of 2007 in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

I don't understand how someone can take gamerankings and similar websites seriously. It's one thing thing to be nominated by editorial staff, it's another thing to be nominated by a statistical flux. You can have a thousand websites like that with a thousand different "tops".

Reply to Dwarf Fortress in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

There is a mod that adds graphics to the game. http://mayday.w.staszic.waw.pl/df.htm Anyway, I highly recommend the game to anyone interested in strategies or simulators. Despite being (originally) ASCII, it's totally real-time, 3d and very... uh... emergent? The world generation algorithm is amazing.

Reply to Dear Brad and other members of the Stardock team. in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

Are there any good books on the actual game programming? 3d engines, 3d graphics APIs, sound APIs, physics, commonly used formats, tools, etc?

Reply to Ten New Years Resolutions for the Game Industry in GalCiv II News GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Hardware wise it's not as bad as Starforce was (which ruined several of my CD/DVD drives before I found out how bad it was)[/quote] SecuROM didn't ruin my drives, but it did ruin my drivers for DVD combo. I bough a new DVD drive, thinking that was a hardware problem. It ruined new drivers too. "Fortunately", it only affects DVDs with SecuROM. My PC doesn't see them. At all. No files, nothing. ... Oh, and I would add yet another bullet to that list.

Reply to Absolutely SICK of These CONSTANT Out of Memory Errors! in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

To the people who said something about spyware and other applications above. Aren't memory limits are separate for each process? Spyware can slow the system down, but I don't think it can cause "out of memory" errors. Also, I've read about open-source replacement for windows memory manager a while ago. Can't seem to find the link anywhere...

Reply to Ten New Years Resolutions for the Game Industry in GalCiv II News GalCiv2 Forums

I would add: 11. Don't make horrible flash-only websites that demand to type your age every time you open them. 12. Don't host patches on crappy third-party websites which require you to register, watch twenty ads, and wait in queue for 10 minutes. ... IMO, Torment doesn't need a sequel. And I say that as a big admirer of Torment. In fact, I say that [i]because[/i] I'm a big admirer of Torment. What's with the love for sequels anyway? I mean, a sequel to

Reply to Will Stardock fix all factories/labs exploit in upcoming addon ? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Are you suggesting that the AI below masochistic isn't extremely good? I am not suggesting anything. What I'm writing is quite simple: saying that you need exploits to balance off "masochistic" level is not a real argument in favor of keeping exploits, since masochistic level aims to balance off player's advantages in the first place. this seems to presume that this strategy is easy, and not in itself a part of the g

Reply to Will Stardock fix all factories/labs exploit in upcoming addon ? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

If it bothers you, don't do it. I highly dislike such replies (which are alarmingly common), because there is always the implied third part. "If it bothers you, don't do it, and shut up." Which rather bad thing to imply. I don't do it, but it does bother me. Pursuing or not pursuing this strategy has absolutely no connection with finding it bothersome. Game is an objective entity, and ignoring some parts of it will not make them go away. (Complaining

Reply to Alternative suggestion to Right of Passage Treaty in GalCiv Journals GalCiv2 Forums

I don't really like this primarily because it would allow players to fence off massive amounts of space they can't realistically control. It would be possible. However, AI could declare war on you in such case (after asking for RoP treaty), and colonize the inner planets anyway.