Jediteo

Bayonet + Burgers = pure WIN.

Oh dear god, we are all screwed aren't we? Anyone up for building a colony on Mars or something?

Pics or it didn't happen.

I really hope these people do not vote.

You know, this guy isn't actually russian right?

Seconded, this dude is awesome.

Well done chaps!

One of the greatest virtues of man is the bringing joy to others, and surely the countless hours of fun we have all partaken in is nothing but a reflection of our leader. Salute Jim, for giving us all years of enjoyment and a sense camaraderie.It has indeed been an honour to spend my time with you, and the Dogz. Salute. I can only echo the sentiments stated earlier, you truly are a Good man. Teodor

Cheers Nick, always good to have you hanging around.

It sounds just terrible, not only a large bombing just outside the goverment building, but also one of the largest shootings in modern history on the same day. The two events are not known if they are connected, but the horror that is still remains. My sympathies to the norwegian people.

You are far too kind Arthur, all I do is pass on information that I either find or find out. I could probably do a session on Wednesday if anyone wants it, or any other time suits me really. I'll be back home on monday evening, so everything after that works fine. There is quite a large learning curve on this game, part due to its complexity and part due to its inherent excentricities. The control setup is less than intuitive, and the GUI is still somewhat lacking however, once one gets it running decently (either due to tweaking, or waiting for that somewhat delayed patch), it is rather enjoyable. If there is an intest in doing a practice/introduction session I will gladly try to get a small curriculum going. Off the top of my head I can think of the basics being; -Trying to understand the GUI architecture of a madman 101 (also known as how to start the game) -Attempting to not cover your windshield in oil, a comparative study of aeroengines (Complex Engine Management for dummies) -Acquirig Altitude in Allied Aircraft and Alternate Airforces, (How to start and take off in Spitfires/hurricanes and perhaps some others) -"Flying" (basic aircraft operation and systems familiarisation, quite a bit different from Il2) -Flying leather trousers, with guns (The Jedi's guide to the Galaxy, in a BF109 or 110) It really should not be excessivly difficult or time consuming, I could probably run through this in one or two hours. Once you get past the initial hurdles, and getting used to steam, the game isn't half bad. Still need quite a bit of work though. Anyone interested?

I found this little thing written up by one of the squads on the banana forums, could be quite useful, and saves you a bit of time learning strange quirks of the planes. Most of the procedures can be skipped, but it does give you an insight into how comlicated you can make the game, if you so wish. OP2GvSAPINST_3710.1A.pdf

With a steam game, all the CD is is essentially a box with an activation code, a thin little manual with some "artwork" on it and a disc that can be used to install the game from, saving some bandwidth from the download the game files from steam. So essentially the CD is merely a bandwidth option I must say, I quite like steam.

The game can look that good, with a bit of tweaking. My computer just needs a bit of an upgrade to run it that well (a new processor). However, the next patch is supposed to increase performance and get rid of the flickering trees that kill framerates. Here is a pretty decent video showing the quite nice ground detail.

You could either try the QMB mission Crosscountry flight, or use the just put up a multiplayer server and use the dogfight maps. I'm not at my normal computer, so I cannot send you my missions I built just for that purpose. What you could do is just go into the mission builder (under extras in the main menu) Load up any of the maps, I suggest the Channel 1940 for just flying around, the others are a bit sparse, but they run really well. Place an object called Spawn area (or something similar) on a airfield, which is the new name for the home base. Configure it, with aircraft spawning as parked (or else they will spawn on the runway, which is slighly bugged with multiple players) Choose how many pilots and what planes to be available at the airfield (IMPORTANT). And then just save it, and go into multiplayer (I suggest lobby), and create a server with a password on it. Choose the mission in the list (you may start looking at the singleplayer missions, but just click the two dots to go to the root folder and click the multiplayer missions. When you are in the dogfight screen, you just click battle (or start battle) to start the mission, then it is just to choose a side. This enables you to click an airfield on the map belonging to your side (they show up as white circles) You will then have a plane setup menu on the right, which allows you to pick an airplane and how many of them you which to spawn. Then click the Plane button on the bottom of the screen to set up your aircraft, with skins and ammo belting. You can choose your own belting, I recommend a mix of Armourpiercing and DeWilde incendiaries and maybe a red tracer round on weapon 4-5 on the Spit/hurri. All you need to to is make a series of round for the belting, say AP/Dewilde incendiary/AP, which repeats until the gun is empty. Play around with the ratios a bit, but I like an equal mix of Dewilde and AP rounds. The ball rounds are just another FMJ bullet (which relativly useless, why have a normal round when you can have one that is on fire) and the observer round are entirely useless as they do not give any damage, just a large puff of smoke for training purposes. Remember, you have to do this with every gun, just make sure you save it afterwards (can be a bit dodgy at times). Then get back into the dogfight menu, and press create on the right side (you may have to scroll down the right bar slightly. And now you should be in your cockpit, you can open the canopy by pressing O, and closing it with ctrl-O, which is VERY useful with 6DOF as you can lean outside the pit slightly then. Good luck. I'll try to see if I can't set up a training mission or something once I get home on monday.

The big patch is coming, quite possibly on Friday, if not earlier. Little bit of comms breakdown from the developers at the moment. There are a few bugs still there, among some of the very annoying ones. Atleast if it runs OK on your rig, you will get a peek at the very entertaining game the lies beneath the pile of bugs. Make sure to turn CEM and the overheat thing on, better learn it the hard way. Turn Anthropomorphic controls off (it doesn't really work). Spits are relativly easy to fly, they won't overheat unless you really run the engine roughly (boiling point of the water is around 115C DO NOT EXCEED). Startup procedure is (For a spit, they are all the same, hurri is very similar) -Magnetoes on (both) (Left side of cockpit) -Fuel cock ON (Right side of cockpit, right of the stick in the footwell) -Mixture to lean -Throttle to about 5-10% -Press I to start -As soon as you have a solid RPM going (a few seconds), increase mixture to full. -Open radiator (Green lever on the left) -Increase throttle and taxi with the brake (you will have to use the button as the spit and hurri do not have independent footbrakes) -Prop pitch is two settings, coarse and fine, most of the time just run it at full. When in flight, keep looking at your RPM and temp gauges. RPM should not exceed 3000RPM, and water temp 115. (Standard temp in flight is about 97-100) Adjust your radiator accordingly in the air to prevent overcooling and overheating. The radial-engined planes need to warm up on startup, the oil need to reach about 42 degrees. Turn ON and OFF the clickable pit with F10. It is a bit of work to get it going, and it is certainly frustrating (more than a flight sim usually is), but it is quite fun to fly around in. Hopefully the coming patch should fix a lot of the problems, it has been in the works for quite some time now.

But I thought one does not simply walk into Mordor?

Here is the footage from the SRBs (Solid rocket boosters) on the Atlantis on her last mission STS135. Enjoy.

What the F...

Reagan, everybody loves Reagan.

Did you guys not see the danish blonde in the background? Shame on you gentlemen.

I'm waiting for the new patch to come out (should be just before the NA release). While it does have it's fair share of bugs, it is starting to look like a sim. Still, until most of the annoying stuff is ironed out, I don't really expect people to play it unless they really want to play through the bugs. The Complex engine management can be learnt in an hour or two easily. Essentially, open your radiators and don't overload the engine with either manifold pressure or RPM. And check your Oil and water temps every few minutes. And the cooling rate of the engine. And Carburettor temps/heating on/off. And check your fuel level of your different tanks, as draining the one you are currently and not changing it using may cause the spinny thing to stop. Simples. In short, If you can bear through the few oddities, it is a very promising and quite simply fun game.

Good ones Trib, especially the last one!

I am just loving Fen's hat! Rock on dude! And big props to Swep for rocking the wayfarers-style glasses.