Posts by Drakon

  • Hmm

    Bit of grave-digging here, I know, but from the clips of the video I was able to watch it definitely caught my attention. Not enough time to mull over it tonight but maybe tomorrow!


    For whatever it's worth, over the last few months I've learned not to discuss Star Citizen and the pledge I sent their way back in the beginning. Most of my friends hopped on the Elite bandwagon instead, love it, and give me grief about giving Roberts a shot with this. Hell, quite a few of them are convinced it'll get scrapped before leaving beta. Not so sure, myself, but I'm patient so we'll see. :|

  • About the Federal Reserve

    Quote from [UR]GrandAndreasK

    What about China then?......
    While the US have been bussy conquering the Middle-East...China & North-Korea have just watched and gotten stronger whle US have gotten weaker and bankrupt.... Imagine what would happen if they was to sart a nuclear war..... Fallout......


    I respectfully disagree on all counts. West Asian affairs set aside, North Korea is on the verge of being a failed state and the last I heard its relationship with the PRC has been strained somewhat due to the provocative bullshit Kim Jong Il was up to last year. Several nations in the region are being cautious at least in part because an implosion of the regime could cause a big surge in organized crime, weapons falling into the hands of factional warlords, unaccounted for nuclear weapons, a flood of refugees fleeing away into neighboring countries, and other such problems. It will be interesting to see how power is transferred when Kim dies - I think that the government has become quite unstable.


    It is hard to say what will happen to the PRC. I think their future is bright yet somewhat distant. This is a developing country where the GDP per capita (PPP) is was under $8,000 last year (the world average was $11,200). In 2007, the PRC had roughly 57 million people living on less than $0.35 per day. These are not people who have living conditions rivaling those of us in Europe or the States. China has a big military. What it lacks is force projection. The Chinese are potent in their own backyard but lack the assets needed to deploy those forces far from home. Even if they challenge or surpass the US is certain respects someday I do not think it will necessarily mean another Cold War. Relations are not always kittens and sunshine between the two countries and I do not want to underestimate China - it has been making a lot of progress - but at the same I do not fear their development. Barring a rapid, irrational escalation of tensions over Taiwan or the Korean peninsula I do not see how or why there would be a risk of limited war or the use of nuclear weapons.


    Incidentally, the US still doing fine. My understanding is that production is at record highs and still growing (albeit sluggishly), our armed forces are superbly capable, the national debt is not going to crush us - simply force people to be inconvenienced by higher tax rates and fewer state services, and when the generation of "baby boomers" passes the strain put on American social programs will start to lighten up little by little. It is my opinion that the US has not yet reached the point of no return. If and when people make some sensible decisions, things will turn out alright. Americans need to live within their means for a change.



    At the risk of sounding snobbish I object to the prospect of watching hours of propaganda. In my experiences, Jesse Ventura and Alex Jones are notoriously unreliable.



    Quote from Huor

    We already had a cold war - we dont need another. I am sure that pressing the red button would be a well thought decission that no one just makes for fun or because he can. Otherwise we already would have seen this happened.


    Aye. Mutual fear of becoming the victim of a preemptive first strike at the hand of an aggressive rival can be a powerful motivator.

  • About the Federal Reserve

    Quote from [UR]GrandAndreasK


    And i guess Capitalism is the lesser evil of the other systems......but i still have a dread fealing of the new world order....that usa will end upp rule the world....no freedom only F.E.M.A troops going down the streets evryware.....


    The former part is somewhat close to my attitude at this point, the latter not so much.


    If you still worried though I advise keeping a close eye on social conservatives and self-described libertarians. A large number are genuine. However, there is a segment of people alongside them that is vulnerable to authoritarian influences. Telltale warning signs include unquestioning trust of party leaders or demagogues, a lot of fear, aggression toward opponents, bigotry, doublethink, passionate patriotism, closed-mindedness, absence of logical connectivity between convictions, and a tendency to keep among and feel more confident when in groups of their "own kind." Quite a few are in the Tea Party movement. Be on the lookout regardless of who is leading. Some of these folks are conservative Democrats from down South. The American left itself though, as a whole, is a less susceptible to authoritarianism.


    The leaders with latent potential to rally authoritarian followers are amoral, ruthless, manipulative, and seek out control over others. Their self-interest can lead them to feign being religious to appease conservative followers, lack loyalty to followers, be apathetic to the suffering of others, think of women and minorities as inferior, and live by a "get what you want however you can" attitude. In the U.S., these blokes are capitalist but may go a step further to believe equality is undesirable because a level playing field would hinder their own efforts to get more power. Those who are especially prejudiced and more religious are well-poised to muster a devoted following. Former House Speaker Tom DeLay and former President George W. Bush may be examples of this. I am not intent on bashing the right-wing here but it appears to be where the threat is most evident.


    Anyway, most Republicans I know are okay though, FEMA is an agency that responds to natural disasters, and the States probably could not conquer the world right now even if it wanted to. Well. If there was enough nuclear brinkmanship involved then maybe. But that is not going to happen. Gunny is also right. There are a mind-boggling number of guns in circulation here. Combine that with a heritage of paranoia about the state, consolidated liberal democratic institutions, a pluralist culture, people who value their liberties, and an assortment of other factors and what you have is a fierce guerrilla war. The one big obstacle: getting Americans to realize what is happening. It would not surprise me at all if the regime could convince more than a quarter of the population that it is legitimate, righteous, and worth supporting. More might choose not to act.



    Quote from [UR]GrandAndreasK

    Everyone have a closer look at this:
    http://wallstats.com/deathandtaxes/


    I really like this sort of stuff - great post. xD

  • About the Federal Reserve

    Quote from Gunny

    Speaking of Oil. The US gets less than .05% of its oil from Libya, whereas Europe gets 85% of their crude from that country, so why are we wasting our ammunition and resources there? ( I know why, I just want to see what idiotic answers are posted). It's Europes problem in my opinion.


    My casual guess would be that the realist, neo-conservative policies pursued by President Bush are giving way to some sort of Wilsonian idealism under President Obama. Limited engagement and leadership, leaning on international cooperation, acting multilaterally, and not having a clear interest in doing this to benefit the United States suggests to me that the goal might be to nudge along principles of liberalism and self-determination in North Africa and the Middle East without stepping on the toes of strategic partners in the region or turning it into another painful occupation / decade of nation-building adventures.


    Pulling our punches avoids Americanizing the war. This sidesteps having our assistance cause a legitimacy crisis for the new regime if the rebels prevail while also shielding us from some of the political fallout if the rebels fail. We also cannot afford to open up a new front right now without a round of serious tax hikes, which given the current political conditions would not go over well with the electorate. Engaging in a full-scale war without the support of the American public would risk sinking our troops and policy objectives into the same kind of quagmire that compromised American commitment to winning in Vietnam.


    On a side note, nobody I know in France seems to have much confidence in their armed forces but that has certainly not stopped their government from getting more involved in Africa as of late. They seem to have more hard power and military proficiency than the average person gives them credit for. On the other hand, I am not well-versed in European affairs.

  • About the Federal Reserve

    My knowledge of economics is far too limited for me to offer a response to this that is not ignorant. This is ironic since almost all that I have an opinion about in politics somehow ties back into the allocation of money amongst members of society. A list of scholarly journal articles discussing the topic would be interesting to sift through. Even if those articles were provided however, I would probably struggle to make sense of core concepts without advice from someone more learned than I in the field. Frustrating though it can be, this sort of stuff is a bit over my head.


    I tend to settle somewhere on the centre-left all around. Without a compelling explanation of how an alternative to capitalism would work I feel obliged to seek out ideas for reform instead of a fundamental shift in economic paradigm. Even though I have strong convictions and values that would suggest a more hardcore set of corresponding positions, I do not have enough options or comprehension of each available perspective to arrive at unorthodox conclusions with confidence. It seems prudent for me to settle on social democratism while remaining receptive to other possibilities.


    For now I approach these kinds of fiscal matters with extreme caution. If others get an interesting, intelligent discussion going I will gladly watch and learn. At times it is better to just read than ramble... though I will probably ramble anyway. :p

  • Just came from SP to MP. Wow, I can't fly.

    Display Spoiler

  • Showcase

    Mission screens are looking sweet! Also...


    Quote from Bond

    Deadly look, but this ship nobody use (except for stores) i wonder what will happen now, and without proper positions for turrets this ship remains exhibition ship only.

    Don't be silly. If it becomes available for use I will probably fly it everywhere to do everything! 8D

  • List of wishes in 1.9

    I am extremely satisfied with the features present in 1.82, some of which I really did not expect to find...


    That being said, if I had to scheme up a few ideas...


    1. There was a Coalition capital ship incorporated into 1.8 that appeared in the intro video of FL, but did not seem to become a buyable, pilotable vessel. The mod has a lot of warships and I realize combat in CF is meant to be mostly fighter-to-fighter, but the ship in question is one I would very much like to see available someday. Each House in Sirius has capital ships for sale, there is an Alliance vessel for sale, and holographic projectors for ships like Yamato, but unless I missed something there are no Coalition ships of such a class for sale in Altair. From a storytelling perspective I do not think it would be particularly unrealistic for there to be an export market for Coalition vessels. That is not to say I am asking for a lot of ships - just saying the one particular ship I am inquiring about would be great and is the last major item on my wish-list.


    2. It would also be interesting to see the completion of (or ruin for) jump gates and trade lanes under construction in vanilla FL systems. A lot of years have elapsed in terms of the game storyline. I sense that by now, either construction would be completed or abandoned for some of these projects - stalemates brought on by criminal elements like the Gaians and Blood Dragons cannot last forever. Sooner or later one side gets the upper hand and there are consequences for that. Completing and/or reducing to debris some of the gates and lane hoops in question may help convey that the Houses are not frozen in time relative to add-on systems. Development occurs in all parts of the universe, and this would be a good way to display that - especially since most of the underpowered ship classes flown in vanilla systems by NPCs cannot be modernized for balancing reasons. To me it would make more sense if systems like Tau-31 and Hokkaido had either infrastructure on par with Purian Lake, Wanderer's Pond, and Hyperion by now or stronger criminal/terrorist patrols to reflect the victories of those factions.


    3. Once again, and perhaps I have overlooked features in 1.82, but what about HQs for each the ASF and CSF in the asteroid fields of X-3043 for players to dock at? It could offer an answer to where all the ships fighting in X-3043 come from and where their senior officers operate from, offer players a place to purchase ASF and CSF licenses (or not - they have traditionally been reserved for server clans to use after all), and it would be great for adding rumors and/or faction bribes. The latter point I mention because bribes for the ASF or CSF can take quite a long time to find. It is awkward. For instance, I can equip a CSF license but still get attacked by NPCs of that faction if I have not yet found the bribe and any hostile Outcasts happen to fly by. I do not really mind either way, but the HQs might also be good places to eventually sell ASF and CSF fighters.


    Anyway, it's just what came to mind. None of it is actually important but I love to make suggestions.


    You already do very well at deciding which features to incorporate into new versions of the mod. :]

  • 'you must be more friendly to buy weapons'

    Oddly enough, when I got the mod installed I had a similar problem. Any weapon over class 2 either had a level requirement or stated the need to be on friendlier terms with the faction to buy; all vanilla ships were unavailable on account of level requirements, as were any looted guns of class 3 or higher, yet ships added by the mod were not having this problem at all. When I restarted my PC the problem went away so it is hard to say what happened. Some other issues popped up too, but are unrelated to the subject here and do not seem to have a major effect on the quality of gameplay.


    Anyway, I imagine you have already turned off your computer at least once since the problem first arose so this probably isn't of much use, but hopefully you will be able to find a solution so that the mod is more playable for you. :\

  • Wish list for Crossfire 2.0

    I have long held an interest in a level 9 shield-busting gun that behaves a little bit more more like a Coalie Gatt. Still, when I was at my best performance here in PvP it was flying with four Codename Mk II guns and a pair of Tizona del Cids. It is true that I was also a spammer of torpedoes, cruise disruptors and mines, but what I eventually learned is that you can develop good intuition with marksmanship. If you use multiple gun types your cross-hairs will lie to you unless attacking from directly in front or behind. Compensate for it - first so that your pulse weapons chew up their shields, and then again with your main guns to gradually tear apart the ship's hull. Personally, I preferred to go in for the kill with torpedoes or mines once a target's shields were down but that is not always a particularly realistic strategy. Be adaptive so that you can shift tactics mid-battle.


    Just remember that nearly every weapon performs differently in a dogfight than others. Spend a lot of time with the same loadout. Use NPCs as punching bags while you learn how much you need to compensate to make certain shots hit when you want them to, or go to Arena and work on it there instead like so many of us have in the past. The limitations of equipment can be frustrating and to be fair I absolutely loathe missiles, but I think that it is probably possible for a strict gunslinger to dominate if they train to develop l33t evasive skills and work on their marksmanship hard enough. If you initially struggle to get better at it I would recommend finding someone on the server who is willing to have guns-only duels with you for awhile - any experience is good experience, really, and with enough time you will start to win more often. :]

  • 'you must be more friendly to buy weapons'

    If I may ask, to what extent is your reputation friendly with the Bounty Hunters? It has been a long time since I last tried to convince a standoffish faction to sell me equipment, but maybe the problem is that your standing with them is not high enough to gain access to their top-tier equipment. So when you say that you are friendly with the group, do you mean that you are just barely considered friendly by them or that you are close to entirely-allied with them?

  • inner core

    Have you tried killing the fighters yet? It may be a long shot, but maybe the pulse cannons sometimes drop as loot. The only reason I haven't tried yet is because I don't want to die. :D

  • 1.8 Inner Core

    If anything it can take awhile because alien patrols force you to deviate from your flight plan somewhat. That being said, it's not that hard to explore as you both pointed out. Even better, I have yet to be dock raped by aliens jumping from one Inner Core system to another. Maybe I am just lucky right now, but if this is deliberate I'd really like to thank OP. Exploration is a lot more manageable and fun when the player has a few moments to catch their breath and power up to cruise - especially when it comes to these new factions and their formidable AI + armaments. :)

  • inner core

    I don't think there is anywhere to buy DK weapons or ships, but there might be other ways to obtain the former of the two.