Posts by Centaurian

So, I am guessing that the station defenses would help protect clan and allied players from hostile NPC's near the base? Many times I have wished for this in Casius, where I come under attack by hostile corporation ships while in the docking queue. Perhaps the station defenses would also attack non-allied players near the base? The entire Conquest Model is a trader's dream!

Hmmmm.... So, if a pirate/cop/merc gets within weaps range to initiate tax/fine/bounty collection, and I am able to outrun them into the next system (thereby escaping), I still have to pay the cost?? After all, most profitable BMG routes cross several systems, so it is normal business to push on to the next port for delivery. Up to now, evasion or combat were the only way for a smuggler to avoid such penalties; now it seems that skill at evasion is no longer an asset. So once again, the pirate/cop/merc can afford to be lazy, while the hard-working smuggler funds all the parasites... Why bother having a smuggler RP at all if the only acceptable mode of RP is combat??

Some of you may have noticed (maybe not) that Paypal is now charging a currency exchange fee on transactions, including donations to SWAT Portal. The fee was about 4% on the amount I transferred to OP this month (US dollars -> Euros); I don't know if the rate increases with the size of the transaction or remains constant. In any case, I recommend that anyone who is making donations to SWAT/Crossfire to take it upon themselves to absorb the currency exchange fee, and not expect OP to absorb the unnecessary loss of revenue to keep this great site & server open to all. This would mean that you increase your system rent payment from 20euro to 20.8 euro. This is really not a big sacrifice considering the value OP provides us all! Thanks for your cooperation, and we'll see you in space!

Looks to me like the 2.0 Dev team is booting it up for some more testing ... password (& 2.0 mod) required.

As always, OP & his team did a fine job on the launcher update! Even after months away from SWAT & CF, the launcher did its auto-update thing, and appears to be working perfectly; now if I could just figure out which of the shader settings I should be using, I could see the game better

Belated Birthday Greetings!

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hopefully I will be more present in the near future

- I resemble that remark!

IOC has already taken delivery of these MK II weapons: Diamondback, Cerberus, Golden Blade, Guardian, Blue Blaze

That leaves these to find/purchase: Prometheus, Silver Fire, Jade, Onyx, Bloodstone, Iron Hammer, and several others I can't recall at the moment. Ask me or other IOC pilots in-game for the wreck locations, and you will be paid promptly for your efforts!

Still looking for IC weaps...

As explorers who are constantly working to complete the picture of the CF universe, IOC is looking for pairs of weapons for evaluation. All Freelancers have the capability of salvaging MK. II Codename weapons from the wrecks strewn about the X-systems, and for any pilots who need directions, we have already mapped these locations. Also, we are in need of pairs of weapons from Inner Core alien races, for detailed analysis.

Bounties for these weapons:

MK. II's - $5 million for the pair
IC weaps - $10 million for the pair

These rates are minimums, and may be negotiated depending on the type of weapon, and rank of the player delivering them. We prefer to further the careers of freelancers, but weapons offered by other clan members will be considered. Good hunting, everyone!

I recently also discovered a drawback with the cloaking device: it helps add to the "item limit" in your FL player account, making it easier to corrupt that account. Prior to the availability of the cloak, the limit on the number of unmounted guns/equipment was fairly straightforward, you could just count the items and give yourself a margin of safety, when building a store, for instance. The cloak affects that limit in a different way, so the absolute item storage limit is lower for a cloaked ship. While OP has said that the storage limit is determined more by the overall storage load in the whole account, it has only ever caused corruption on my store characters.

Fortunately, this can be remedied by removing the most "overloaded" character from the account, saving the other characters in the account. Sadly, it can also cause server crashes and considerable frustration for players who have never experienced this phenomenon, not to mention the loss of the character, its cash & cargo. The more cloaked ships a player has in their account, the less they should store as unmounted goods, to avoid this issue...

I have not used FLMM to switch mods in some time, but I recall that "deactivating" the mod was not sufficient to restore FL to its original state. If you intend to run a second mod alongside CF, then you must use the "Restore Backups" option in the Tools menu. This applies whether it's CF or any other mod run by FLMM; the backup files restore the files changed by CF and other mods, rather than trying to deactivate them. It is equally important after that to clear any "autosave" or "restart" files from your My Documents\My Games\Freelancer folders, or they will corrupt the start of whatever mod you are switching to. As mentioned above, be sure to read all the FAQ's and the CF Guide, and you'll be fine.

First, a FL player has to be accepted into a clan, which is by no means a sure thing. Second, all players must establish a history and skills before they will even be considered for clan membership. Some clans (like IOC) also have requirements that must be met, not to frustrate the new recruit, but to assure that the new member can actually make a meaningful contribution to the clan & its RP. And if a player is not willing to demonstrate enough discipline to do these things, then they are not reliable enough to be counted on as clan mates.

Clan membership is a privilege above the privilege of even playing on the CF server, and either one can be lost. Just keep in mind that clan membership is a long-term commitment to your clan mates & the community to take an active & responsible role in making CF fun for everyone. For some, responsibility is not in their blood, and they would rather use their freedom to create mayhem & spoil the game for others. Even freelancers have to play responsibly; clan membership is just an extension of that. Keep in mind that occasionally, the mod requires a character wipe, so even the most prolific FL will eventually lose their precious stats. All the more reason to get tagged as soon as possible!

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the Horse guys (redhorse, whitehorse, blackhorse)

... yeah, same bunch, along with some other wannabe bada**es have made it a habit of invading server clan systems to wreak havoc, as though it was their birthright. I simply won't play their game, so they can go pound salt while I go do some smuggling...

Nice pics! And a good time had by most everyone. It was good to kick some alien butt to help our DK friends...

Well, while it's unfortunate that G's temper sometimes gets in the way, I can say for sure that many ppl here would not do better if they had the same RL stresses he has had to carry in recent weeks. And his point about noobs reloading should not be readily dismissed, either, since I am finding the same thing more frequently. Unfortunately, the slowdown in server play has also been mirrored by a lack of GR's online, who might otherwise make corrections in real time to such behavior. Take some more time off, Gunny, and come back when you're ready to dole out some more of your patented a**-kicking!

Good to see a healthy discussion on a topic that needs attention! With respect to time zones, though, I have always valued having players in the clan from as many different time zones as possible. This ensures that the clan has the maximum exposure to FL players, and the best chance that clan members can have a reasonable expectation of grouping with their clan mates SOME of the time. I can honestly say that I hardly ever saw players from clans where all the members were from eastern Europe, since my time zone is GMT -7hrs. Add to that fact that the best clan members are also responsible citizens in RL, many of them have real jobs & families which don't leave as much cockpit time as we would like. In any case, clans do have a somewhat "tidal" life cycle, which ebbs & flows over time. Apart from selecting a clan with the RP of your choice, the most important consideration for clan choice is its overall longevity and contribution to the server. If you still can't find a suitable match, you are free to start one of your own, provided you have the extra time required!

K, but it'll stunt your EQ! I can speak from experience, and when I looked around after about 8 years of hard partying, I realized I had gone exactly NOWHERE with my life in the meantime. So, the sooner you grow out of the habit, the sooner you can go on to a life of significance, where people will actually take you seriously. Not judging, just sayin'...

It would be interesting if some combination of contraband goods could be combined into a weapon of mass destruction, assuming that such a weapon had a use (in a destructible universe, for example). Some combination of Fusion Weapon Components, Quantum Bomb Components, Old Nuclear Device, MoX, etc, might be combined into a bomb that might be "dropped" outside a base or docking ring, and either have a time delay, or need to be detonated by a missile/torp. It would obviously take some coding, and I've no idea how that would look. It could be used as a means of combat in the Conquest Model; if a system's tribute money is tied to the system population, and one or more bases is destroyed for a time, the revenue would drop for a time. Just thinking out loud....

The best thing for any player to do to bring life to the server is to BE ONLINE! I have been absent a while from the forums specifically because I wanted to maximize my limited gaming time on CF. Now I am seeing more activity, even in my time zone (GMT -7), and for me, at least, the game is getting more interesting again. Maybe I have the advantage of not owning a "smart" phone, so I can own more of my life, instead. People have to choose whether to spend time on marginal activities or invest time in building community. Anyone can entertain themselves by any means at hand, but building something more enduring takes a sense of identity & purpose. I choose to make even my recreation time count for something more than mere personal pleasure; we all benefit when we do so collectively.

Alas, my many distractions caused me to miss this thread! Angmar was an honored & decorated IOC pilot for several years, until his health prevented him from performing to his own high expectations. He happily tutored Son of Angmar in the fine arts of CF combat & strategy even from a young age. Angmar was indeed a RL hero, paying a high price in the line of duty for his country. He is sorely missed, and my thoughts and prayers go out to his survivors. I look forward to one day see this gentleman & scholar again, in our eternal celestial home...

Gunny: I think "which water are you shipping in?" is a distorted translation of a more direct question like, "where are you docking your ships?"; I get the meaning. Ships are being used somewhere, just not here

Yes, RL is a real pain for CF cockpit time... despite having a better job now, their actual need for my services is higher, and they are in more serious time trouble than my last job. So I wind up working more hours, which also drains my available energy faster than before, not to mention that my RL wife also rightly expects to be able to get some quality time with me, at least on weekdays. This being a holiday weekend in the USA, I have already put in more than 15 hours in my personal fleet, building for further growth and expansion. It should also be noted that the majority of IOC pilots are more than 30 years of age, and are managing RL responsibilities, coming back to CF as often as practical for some well-deserved R & R.

No worries, we aren't going anywhere else; there just aren't enough hours in the day to do everything we want...