Bonus Day!
Is this a special treat for the Minefield faithful, or just a cheap attempt at making my March archive reach 100k before midnight?
Just a few interesting readings from the Suggboard the last few days, because hey, why the hell not.
Mr. Alpha posted some great suggestions for improving the game. Needless to say, they pissed off a few closed-minded people, but have nevertheless gained favor with a majority of players and the rumor is that they will be implemented for version 1.35.
Read Aco57's post about dueling landscapes. He's made a point here that I've been trying to get across for a long time, and made it rather well, I think. It's about time someone shot down the snobbish attitude that dueling means using only tactics specialized in by some players using certain ships. Go Aco.
A few nifty ideas from The Romulans about frequency limits that ought to be allowed in the server.cfg file. Funny how a harmless, kind of silly post can start to generate good stuff when people take a simple, fairly useless concept and run with it.
Mafia on the Subspace learning curve. This is thoughtful and I'll probably put it in my editorial section if he lets me.
3/31/98
- MAFIA SPEED LIVES -
The classic map Mafia made for Speed Zone, which many of us have been lobbying to have put back into Speed (in place of the crummy VIE map), finally has a home on a server--at least for a while. Baudchaser at iNET, formerly GAMES.NO, has put the map up in iNET Chaos Zone. It still may be changed into a legitimate speed server. This is a great and triumphant day so please tell everyone you know, and be sure to play there a lot so that the zone can build a player base and Baud doesn't freak out and put that sad old Battle Drone map back up. ;)
- No TV for Bobby D -
Bobby D of the SubArena has been banished from his TV instead of his computer, so ignore yesterday's story about the week absence for him. SubArena is alive and operating at full capacity.
- $19.95 at EB -
I saw the game marked down to this price at Electronics Boutique. Can someone confirm that this is happening everywhere? Anyway if you or someone you know are looking for a cheep copy and can't find them for $9.95, maybe head over to EB.
It occurs to me that the $27 list price for the game almost certainly made it look second rate or old to people happening upon it in the stores. Now it looks like the budget software from hell. My recommendation to VIE (as if they give a shit)...raise the retail price to $54 and supply at-counter rebates or some such. The game should have been readily available online dirt cheap to avoid pissing off the existing player base, but a higher price at retailers would have made the game look far more serious, the contender against the best MPOGs around that it truly is.
Hindsight may be 20/20, but a little foresight never killed anyone.
- Chaos Map News -
Hadar linked to my map guide at The Wormhole. I'm now running neck and neck with the Battle Drone map, and losing all my J12 friends because of it. ;) This still puts me in last place except for Rom's map which he doesn't even like. >:( Say a little prayer for me or something.
- Oh yeah. -
I'm sorry that I keep missing the damned meetings. I've been so concerned with other matters that these things are slipping my mind. Biggest excuse is that it's been Spring Break week for my girlfriend. Oh well, not much is happening anyway. I guess tho that it's kind of my job to rant about that fact...well I promise I'll get back to that on Thursday or Friday or whenever the next meeting thing is. :)
- Later -
Mainly just updating now because I didn't want anyone to avoid SubArena on my account. Real news later today prolly.
3/30/98
- WZ Map Issue Explained -
Peasant's Paladin posted to the Suggboard, clearing up questions about voting in the recent WZ Vangel meeting. It seems that the meeting time was made clear in the War Zone itself, and that Arctos raised no objections to using Happenstance's map. I apologize if my questions confused the issue, but they after all were only questions. :) Read PP's explanation here.
- Chaos Nevada Map Guide -
I finished up my Guide to the Chaos Nevada Candidates. If you are a Chaoser, get involved and take part in the selection process. It's your game, and you're the ones who are going to be mad if a map you don't like it up up. Review the maps in question and then be sure to cast your vote at The Wormhole, Hadar's page for Chaos Nevada issues.
There are links to map images from each of my summaries. Feel free to send in your own observations about the maps, or if you are one the map authors, send me an explanation of your own map if you like.
- SubArena Down -
Although there are two new staff members here, the site is officially down until friday because Bobby D got in trouble and is now his dad has compromised Subspace fandom until this coming Friday. Someone remind me please to remind all of you that the page still exists, because it's a great page. :)
- I Updated 31 Flags Again -
Moby treated me to a harrowing two-hour critique of my map late Saturday night, explaining various problems and suggesting a few alternatives. I'm sure the new style of the open space is going to piss off some tunnel rats, but I'm happy with the changes and have become truly happy with the map for the first time since I "completed" it as a Dueling Zone map in my naive younger days, erm, three months ago. ;) The updated version will probably be running in Timetrip's server eine Chaos East by later today. For now, here is an image.
As you might have gathered from the title of this article, the name of the map is probably reverting to 31 Flags. This would most likely mean a withdrawal of the original map from publication.
Gommy's Map Updated
Gommy is maintaining a page for his War Zone map in progress and inviting suggestions and criticism. It's an interesting look at the creative process of growing a map. My own thoughts at this point: some of the newer structures are very nice, and more open than the Small Warzone type terrain that was originally dominanting the style of the map. That said, Gommy's structures are better than the ones he's borrowed from other map designers. Gommy, no offense man but make your own map. :) It's one thing to make your level seem uncreative by using other people's ideas; but it's another thing entirely when your own ideas are more original in the first place.
- Direct Links Kind of Suck -
Personally they don't bother me too much, but they do bother some people, and I guess they should under certain circumstances, when after all one is benefiting from your webspace and bandwidth by linking directly. Case in point, if you're looking for the new version of SSME, you'd better head over to the MapMakers Guild and look for it, because some sneaky person has gone and changed the filename to foil all the direct-linky folks out there. ;)
- Warping Greens -
Is there any way to enable dead players to warp their greens at the mast minute, as was possible in version 1.25? I've always kind of missed this and I don't see any harm in leaving it other than that it looked kind of schlocky. Has it really been taken out of the game, or was it somehow a function of the server configuration?
- I suck. -
Very sorry about not maintaining the Kicking Ass section of this page. It's an issue of screwy page editors messing with my html and I know it's going to take several hours to sit down and figure it out so I've been putting it off. I may have it cleared up sometime tomorrow.
- ICQ -
Cybrid. Bud. I made that Warzone logo dark blue on purpose so you'd have to look carefully to see it. I didn't think you'd want a big loud whorish web advertisement as part of your name logo but I guess you learn something new about people every day, hmm? ;) hehehe
- Fireteam -
I feel terrible, because while a number of friends of mine are ripping their hair out at having to wait until today or Tuesday to start playing, I got my junk Saturday and haven't had the time or energy to clean up my HD and install the damned thing. Meanwhile, I'm trying to talk DJ Ratt into giving me back my elite-ass link on the Maxgaming main menu (i.e. not the crummy "Hosted Hites" sub-page) so maybe I will withhold actual screenshots until then so he knows I mean business. ;P
3/29/98
- Map Vote! -
Have you voted yet? Head over to The Wormhole and be counted!
For those undecided or merely curious, I've written a Guide to the Chaos Nevada Candidates. This is mainly an experiment to see if I can review all the zones without being biased toward my own, but at least it'll be something to read, and not much is going on lately. Enjoy.
>>> The above link is bad. Check later today when the guide will be up. <<<
- War Zone Stinkery -
I smell something rotten. It's been two days and there hasn't been a response to my post, and I'm still keeping an open mind about this, but to me it looks as though Arctos's map lost out to Happenstance's by way of a tie, this by way of a secret vote in which two non-Vangels who co-authored Happenstance's map were given ballots. Now why exactly is this appropriate? It's one thing to keep Vangel meetings secret, but there were plenty of people who should have been notified, people who could have been depended on not to cause an interruption. Only 5 of the 7 WZ Vangels were present, but the map vote was 5-5. This seems to mean CorrosionX, Casper00, Blackie, and two others who were not named all took part in the vote.
Frankly, what bothers me most is that none of this bothers anyone else.
- FireTeam -
I got my beta test in the mail today! I wasn't expecting all this, but they've sent us a free t-shirt and a headset which I guess is for some kind of iParty thing that will work with the game. It all game in a big box with a nice sticker on it...they have a damned nice logo for this thing. I haven't had time to install it or anything else yet, but judging from a glance at the documentation we are free to babble about the game as much as we like, so I will be posting information about the game here as often as I can play it, and probably screenshots as well. This game is looking heavily Subspace-influenced and may well be worth getting psyched over. More on this as news develops. :)
- ICQ -
Cybrid started using my little flower link, which I stole from someone else anyway, heh, and tweaked a stupid logo I made for him so now it looks like the Warzone logo is bleeding all over the place. Very inner-peace oriented of you, Cybrid. ;)
3/27/98
News of the Day
- Map Updated -
After receiving a ton of advice about various issues to do with my Chaos Zone map, I've made the biggest revision to the level yet, opening it up by killing many of the hallways, boxes, and gates, and consolidating the two tunnel systems. At the same time, I've made an attempt at space junk for the open spaces. I owe special thanks to TimeTrip, for hosting this during testing, and LordShade for spending hours in there with me explaining why I don't know anything about mapmaking. If you *really* like the map, you can vote for it. If you don't like it, *please* vote for Mafia or The Romulans--not the tired old maps we've been playing for the last year and a half.
View an updated image of the map here. The .lvl itself should be updated at TimeTrip's server (eine Chaos East) this afternoon.
- Tyrsis Sucks! -
Well, not really, but an "Anonymous vet" posted a really nasty rant about the sad state of dueling zone, and I'm inclined to agree with him. Read the thread here. What I personally find distressing about all of this is the fact that Dueling Zone was a lot more fun when there was more vulching. Back then the A1 fight had twenty-man frequencies bombing the hell out of the northwest corner, all the laming was confined to two isolated corridors and usually one dueling box. The smaller frequencies not only made squad matches impossible but resulted in a concentration of all this activity to the center of the map, and increased the likelihood of having your duel interrupted. Of course there are going to be people in Dueling who don't take the game seriously--there are people like that everywhere. When I was starting in that zone, the A1 fight gave me a chance to fight alongside strangers, and those strangers became allies, and who better to duel with?
That said, even with the neglect and the ridiculously wide warp/respawn radius, there aren't practical reasons to bitch about this. As a matter of principle, Dueling Zone is an outrage. In practice, however, duels in the northeast and southeast boxes are not interrupted, and there is always the option of playing a private arena or--heaven forbid--dueling for real in a legitimate map with actual landscape around you and even (dare I say?) a degree of uncertainty about what your opponent may have up his sleeve.
But wait, that's not skill, is it?
- Maxig Kicking Ass -
Tons of juicy news as usual, but I really mean tons this time. I hate all you people over there! You throw your bleeding six-man staff at me and force me to dabble in radical politics to compete. I'll show you. >:P
Seriously though, the recent unending deluge of interesting news and good writing has impressed me. It really has become a damned great page over the last few weeks. On the off chance you haven't been there recently, go.
While I'm at it, welcome Arctos and Baudchaser to Maxworld. :)
- ICQ -
This little flower ought to add me to your contact list. I'll move it to the bottom in a few days, or else turn it blue so it's not such an eyesore. If you don't yet use ICQ, start. ;)
3/25/98
News of the Day
- eine Chaos East -
My map for Chaos Nevada is up for testing! :) All possible thanks to TimeTrip for setting this up for me. Please come in and check out the map and icq me with advice, complaints, etc. When I am done with this sucker it's going to have something to both please everyone and piss everyone off. I need all the help I can get!
- Revised Speed Map -
In response to a thread about changing the map for Speed Zone back to Mafia's map (almost universally acknowledged as superior) once up in Speed West, Mafia posted an update to the messageboards. You can see the post and the map image here; be sure to check out the whole thread and chime in if you are a Speed player (or were back in the Golden Age). My own two cents about the map that got me into mapping...I'd like to see that poor castle moved nearer the center so it gets used, but I can't think of what I would want sacrificed in its place. Perhaps switching placed with the hallways directly southeast of it would gain more traffic for both of them. Also, there have been a few deletions around G13, of plus shapes and little dots. I rememeber these structures 8 or 9 months after the last time I played in that map. I'm not sure I'd go so far as objecting to their removal, but I do balk just slightly. The rest of the changes seem all for the better, based on the limited look I can get from an image.
Judge for yourself...
old version
new version
- Grumble -
I posted an angry little manifesto that I will probably regret, but I felt it had to be said. If this game continues to be run by sissies who are afraid of change and afraid of public opinion, it will die. As proof I offer the last four months' stagnation and the resulting flight of players from Subspace to elsewhere and beyond. Have a look, and be sure to take a picture when I get my license revoked. :P
- Hadar added me. -
My newly completed map for Chaos Nevada is now up on the voting page at The Wormhole. Go have a look and please consider voting for it. I arrived late on the scene and am currently getting my ass kicked! Meanwhile, I'm expecting to get the level hosted for testing sometime in the next few days, and will announce it here when this happens so keep yer eyes peeled and help me playtest if you can.
- SubStation not moving again, honest! -
News stolen from SubArena but I just couldn't resist. Woop is managing to generate more news than the rest of us put together just by announcing his link changes. ;) It's really no trouble to adjust the link Woop. Don't sweat it.
- New Page -
TrippyShroomy and Royal^Assassin now have a page up by the name of SubSpace Realm This is essentially a brand new page, but has either just now "officially" opened or just now moved to Maxgaming. There's not much to speak of at the moment, but keep checking back there.
- My name starts with a lower case e. -
Just a friendly reminder, since my full name is e, and einexile is a nickname; the big E stands for mind-altering drugs with are bad for you and evil. On a side note, Minefield has an upper case M if it is by itself, and a lower case m if it's next to my name. Kind of confusing and kind of petty, but I wanted to set the record straight. Thank you. :)
3/24/98
- My Chaos Map's Done! -
Well, let's say it's 98% done, but as far as I'm concerned it may never see any more changes. I've posted a message to the Suggboard with links to the page and all that business. I will be sending the .lvl file to Hadar soon for the Chaos Nevada voting page at The Wormhole. In addition, with luck I will be able to get this up on a server for some more serious testing than I can manage on my modem. In the meantime, please have a look and radio me with your suggestions and requests. Thanks. :)
Note: For anyone who may have a problem linking to Maxgaming, I've put a mirror at WestNet.
- Go Jim! -
I have been a die hard James Cameron fan for almost half my life. God damn it was good to see him kick ass at the Oscars tonight. I don't usually watch them, but this time I somehow managed to spend the whole day on it. At any rate, between that and fixing up my map, no update for you really. I'm kind of rushing to get the map page up because I announced it already, then I am off to bed.
- MMG Updated -
The Mapmakers Guild page has been updated, featuring T2-17's weird new WZ map, four new tilesets, and some other news.
- Sorry -
Apologies to the people for whom I said would put up announcements here if needed. I overslept and rushed out of the house this morning, and didn't even sign on until late tonight. I hope it didn't cause any problems.
3/22/98
- I give up. -
I was trying to do a nifty (to me) thing with imagemaps but I can't seem to manage it at the moment. I'll fix everything up soon enough. As far as Kicking Ass This Week, this week really means next week. I'd hoped to have stuff about all the zones up today but it will have to wait until tomorrow.
- Playlist Updated -
Thanks to Gommy for a cool, funny review of the last Blur album. Not at all what you might expect to see on my music page, but it rocks so definitely read it.
- Map Voting Temporarily Closed -
Not sure when this happened. As mentioned here before, there was a lot of cheating on The^Bone's map voting page. Bone is rightly pissed, and the voting is deactivated for the time being. You can still take a gander at the maps, though. Sorry I forgot the link before.Click.
- Cheats Guide -
Subspace Maxig Com put up an awesome and huge guide to the various cheats in the game--how it's done, how to spot a cheater, and things commonly mistaken for cheating. There is also what seems a fairly balanced overview of the various Trixter controversies. Any comments on that aspect in particular are welcome here. Anyway the page is not cheater friendly so don't get any ideas! This guide appears to be written by the entire ss.m.c team, but don't take my word for it; flood them with e-mails demanding that they put up bylines. ;)
- Two New Maps -
Well, one and a half, really. Maxig is featuring the new War Zone map by T2-17, a somewhat radical design with an interesting readme attached. I'm not sure it will work in practice, but it's a fresh approach and the game needs that. Meanwhile, Gommy, known for authoring one of the better small-warzone maps, has a full size map up as a work in progress and is requesting feedback. The map in its current state is up as an image, and will be updated with each set of changes made. This is an interesting view into the development of a map which I haven't seen before, and it will be fun to watch it progress. Go have a look and write him with your opinions.
- Elsewhere -
Blackie updated, but you probably know that already. Sweet new logo at the SubArena plus a ton of League news and a goosing of SubStation. ;) SubStation movied, apparently without warning, and it sure seems odd to me that he'd go to the trouble to set up a sub-domain for a page he only recently was thinking about taking down entirely. I can't reach the site at the moment, but let's hope the change represents some good things. Maxig has a page up for squad recruiting--just a list of squads that are looking for new members. Cool idea.
3/20/98
- Closed for the Day -
I'm gone until late tonight. I've added links from the title graphics but they are all bad so don't click on them please, or your computer will blow up. :) If anyone cares, I'm going to miss the Vangel meeting as well, assuming there is any Vangel meeting at all. SilentDragon might show up in my place, since he has also applied for Vangel in Test Zone and I talk with him regularly. Please don't throw him out if it can be avoided.
3/19/98
- Cybrid's Link List -
'nuff said.
- Total Silence -
I have nothing to say today so I thought I'd make superficial changes to tide myself over. The zone picks up in the corner are entirely my own biased opinion, and yet somehow strangely they are also objective fact not open to dispute. Isn't it funny how things work out? ;)
- I am officially an oldbie as of yesterday. -
I know this because I had my first bout of true Subspace Nostalgia. Not any of that petty "I remember when you could buy stealth for a nickel!" stuff either. I mean I experienced really powerful emotions while listening to a tacky dance mix CD. This is some of the most sterile music I own, but it's something much more now because I used to listen to it all the time while playing in Speed West (on Mafia's amazing, long gone map; sigh...) back when there were two Speeds and 99% of this game was an unknowable maze for me. It's kind of the same way a girl can change an otherwise useless pop record into a lifelong friend or enemy. Speed Zone was a great place to learn this game because the atmosphere was friendly and no one gave a damn how you fought. I'd fly around in my uncloaked Spider--chosen simply because I liked the look of it--teaching myself a powerup a day, single gunning at everyone because one day in Chaos Zone I'd been killed from offscreen by a perfect, beautiful arc of gunfire and gaped at the screen and thought to myself, I want to do THAT.
I am exaggerating pretty badly when I rip on funkydesertbreaks. It's the best breakbeat I've ever heard, and I own a lot of it. It's got its meloow developmental moments but then it builds and builds into this heated frenzy, then settles into a nice long trance and starts the process again. Sometimes it can double my Speed Zone score. April 5th I'll have been playing this game for a year, which I guess is not much by some standards but there aren't many things I'll do for a year. For the occasion, I plan on stuffing my webspace with as much of this music as will fit. Come back here and get some of it.
- Cheating Update -
New revelations about the attach cheat at the SubArena. This is nasty stuff.
I'd like to point out to whomever that everytime you pull a stupid stunt like this, you are just not wronging us in the game; this is not some stupid neg kill or running the wrong direction with the ball. You are wronging us in real life by compromising the reputation of Subspace and wasting creative people's time on stupidass busywork--and if I see you at the next convention I'm going to smack you like a bitch for it.
3/18/98
God, would green mines kick ass or what?
- Bigtime cheating in Jackpot -
The reports of players changing onto private freqs uninvited as mentioned at Subspace Maxig Com yesterday are definitely true. I watched this happen in Jackpot today. For well over an hour, this little bastard was attaching to people and clinging to them; repels had no apparent effect on him. I wish I had more convincing screenshots of this, but there were a *lot* of people watching. TimeTrip, Sith, Shiner, Starseed, and others all saw it. This is no longer rumor but fact, and it is a serious problem. The pictures below are exactly what they appear to be.
-
!!!
-
Log is not much for reading but I'm including it (edited liberally) just to prove what a media wh0re I am. Oh well, at least he's kind of a friendly cheater. I'm convinced the guy really didn't know how he was managing this, which tells me it's a hack and not some bug he's exploiting.
einexile> like 400 people are speccing you dude
einexile> give us a show
Ar2 D2> 6 ppl actuallt ;)
einexile> are you doing what they say you are doing?
einexile> show me the turret trick again :)
Ar2 D2> nah
Ar2 D2> only going to do it to reds from now on
einexile> inquiring minds want to know
einexile> do you have to be near them to do that?
einexile> c'mon give me an interview
Ar2 D2> yes
einexile> are you actually attaching or is it some kind of negative repel?
einexile> ok, now tell me how you are doing that since i am probably the only
person here not cursing your out right now ;P Ar2 D2> cant
einexile> i don't wanna know what has been hacked or by whom, just the dynamic involved
einexile> something to do with the attach control, a quirk of the frequency setting, a repel bug?
Ar2 D2> i dont know
einexile> you just tick a name and it thinks you're on that team?
Ar2 D2> yea
- Over the Hill -
Congrats to Cybrid on the news.txt's 40,000th hit. I guess this probably happened a few days ago but I didn't see it and no one had the sense to brag. ;)
- Cute! -
VIE St. Patty's GWest! Thanks to whoever put this together. :) I'm sad I didn't really get to play in it, tho.
.
- That said, -
Where in the hell is Running Zone? And still more server malaise to go with. No sooner did the GEast servers go up than Nevada fell. Guys, I'm plenty Irish and I'm even sort of a Catholic, but this really sucks!
- Sooner or Later -
A little rant about the new version of SSLed.
- Elsewhere -
When news from the League world actually gets as far as me, you know it must be huge. Well, maybe not huge but there is quite a bit of nastiness going on. Thanks to the person who sent me the tip. (I dunno if he'd want to be mentioned in association with this.) Meanwhile, SubArena appears to have the low down on this and is in general your best bet for League news and rants. Sweet new logo on the SubStation, by the way.
3/17/98
Pinch me!@#$%
- einexile, master of the warscipt -
Click here to see how feared and hated I am by the other Vangels.
- A Correction Regarding "CorrisonX's Map" -
My apologies to Happenstance, who is the primary author of the new War Zone map I previously credited to CorrosionX and Casper00. The latter two did help with the map, but it is largely Happenstance's work. It also bears mention that improvements are still being made to this map; according to Hap the finished product will be far far better than what we've already seen. Keep your eyes peeled.
- Cheating on the Map Vote Page -
It was reported that castle.lvl received over 100 votes last night in only half an hour, and several people have openly suspected that someone somewhere is stuffing the ballot box. Not too much to worry about since this vote doesn't amount to anything more than a good reading of public sentiment--but that fact really makes cheating all the more despicable. Personally I find it a bit irritating that someone would choose a map they have played in for hundreds of hours over a fresh map with brand new bases, but what sort of a loser would be so desperate to avoid change that the issue would drive him to spend 30+ minutes clicking on reload? Not to mention that some time and effort was put into that page and the cheating is not only an insult to The^Bone but probably a pain in his ass as well, since it will no doubt cause the results of his work to be less influential. Never mind the time it will take him to figure out where the bad votes came from, if he chooses to try. Whoever it is ought to be ashamed of himself.
- WZ Map Vote Updated -
The^Bone fixed up his map voting page, adding several maps to the running and repairing the voting links. There is a running tally to keep your eye on. Right now the classic Castle map is winning by a landslide. CorrosionX's map has a big lead among the new maps, with Arctos' map in an equally easy second place. I don't like the way this is going, but I love that it's happening, and there's always next time.
- Zone Massacre -
I'm looking at the server list and half the VIE zones are gone. I hope this means some kind of a big change, and it's about damn time if you ask me. This probably means farewell to Alpha East and a new Chaos Zone somewhere. Word has it that tomorrow will bring the return of Running Zone. Keep your fingers crossed, and someone reassure me that all hell isn't breaking loose.
- SubArena -
I got a nice link and compliment on SubArena, which is rounding out into a really nice page and a frequently updated source of league news. It also looks as though he is working on a strategy guide? Hmm. :)
- Elsewhere -
It's obvious that Addiction's updates are only mirrors of ss.maxig.com and pointers to get people used to going there instead, so I'm taking it off of my links table. Subspace Maxig Com is essentially a combination of Addiction and the Database, and all the Addiction news is getting put up there. In it's place is the new spiffed-up SubStation.
I left Cybrid's link wrong for a few days. The news dot text is now the front page of Subspace Warzone Com and has been for some time. This pisses him off, so please update your links if you've waited as long as I have. ;)
- Later Today -
A little rant about the new version of SSLed.
3/16/98
- I'm a liar -
The green shit above is actually today's update, but I didn't update on St. Patrick's Day and I wanted to make something green. :)
3/15/98
- New WZ Map on Display -
CorrosionX and Casper00 have put up their new map in Warzone Insanity. I believe they are proposing it be used in VIE War GWest; kind of hard to tell since the zone description has vanished since I last visited. Anyway, the zone has terrible settings for map testing so bring a few friends when you check out the map. My personal opinion after a short visit: some kick ass bases and nice organic maze territory along the bottom, but the center is not a good landscape for flag carriers and there are some bases with too many flag chambers or which seem far too easy to defend. Perhaps this is meant to be an advantage for public frequencies. Right now, I think Arctos 3 and Warhammer 2 are better bets, but this one has some strong features and I think it could round out to be a strong contendor.
Anyone opinions about this map (or the others under consideration) are most welcome.
- No Flags! -
To make up for the small update, an image of my Chaos Zone map in progress, a reworking of the silly thing I did for Dueling Zone. This is going to be nice and open and fun when I'm done with it. What do you think of my tunnel system? I'm looking to please everyone with this sucker, so *please* bug me with your requests and recommendations. There is a good chance you may be playing in this map soon as the hosting prospects are looking rather strong, and I'd like it to be a map everyone can have fun in.
- Elsewhere -
The link table is out of date because I have no time to check my news! Curse the Cafe Eblana and The X Files for taking up all my time.
3/14/98
- The Demise of Chaos West? -
VIE appears to have gotten rid of Chaos GWest to make room for Hockey. The zone is nowhere to be found, and the absence seems consistent with earlier word of the impending deletion of a Chaos Zone. As a result, the classic VIE map with the Jolly Roger reworking is gone, as Battle Drone's map is up in both East and Nevada and has been for a long, long time now. This comes as a shock and disappointment to me, and I think will to a lot of other players as well. West dropped drastically in popularity after the zones changed IP locations, and never fully recovered, but much of this was due to the fact that emptiness tends to beget emptiness. Chaos West held its own against the Battle Drone map for a very long time and I think this is going to piss off a lot of players, whether they played there regularly or not.
Meanwhile, the extra Alpha remains, along with the ever unpopular King GEast and Powerball GWest. The classic Chaos West map lives on in the typically zero-player VRGN Chaos.
- Map Vote! -
The^Bone has put up a page on which players can vote for the map they would like to see used next in VIE War GEast. At the moment, only VIE Ancient, Arctos 3, and Warhammer 2 are on the list of options, but there is a link to mail in with your own suggestions. For my part I am choosing Arctos's map, although I would be happy to play on Warhammer's as well. The Ancient (pre-Castle) map is pretty terrible, filled with tons of horrible or otherwise useless structures and weighted by one nearly impenetrable base.
Note that at least one of the links on this page was broken at the time of this writing. If you can't vote, be sure to try later. This is important stuff! Not that any of it is binding, of course, but it's still important dammit. :)
- Turf Arizona Fixed -
The running style flag game set up in VIE Turf Arizona by accident some two weeks ago is gone, bringing an end to a uniquely fun and trippy tunnel game and effectively killing Turf Classic. Back are the miserable 40 point flag rewards and the rampant negging. Nice going VIE. God forbid we should experiment a little.
- Meeting a Bust -
Almost no one showed up and it degenerated into a bitchfest about War Zone. Apparently the only people whose opinions about WZ count are people with 500+ hours usage. Since I have not played in excess of 2000 hours, I am not qualified to dispute that claim, but those of you who are may wish to mail me with your opinions on the matter. Not that they will be acknowledged or considered by us ignorant Vangels who are just here to fuck up your precious zone settings.
- Low-Cal Minefield -
Expect lighter updates in the days ahead. I am deep into a frenzied redesigning of my Dueling Zone map in hopes that it will be considered for Chaos Nevada in the future. This means opening it up and rebuilding some of the tunnel systems and dueling boxes. It was always a Chaos map at heart anyway, so I'm glad to be doing this whether the map gets hosted or not. Just bear with me and don't get all huffy if I miss an update or two. :)
- JeffP Sighting! -
He was playing in Jackpot under his BagMan alias around 2:30pm Pacfic. Not much interesting happened and he was playing pretty badly, actually! I wish I had a screenshot...JeffP had this poor bastard trapped between two bricks and was multifiring in there at him, and somehow the guy killed him. Jeff you need to play your game more often man. :) Thanks to Sith for the tip. I should get a screenshot later in the day if I am good. Check subspace.maxig.com for Omicron's snapshot, which should be up before mine if it isn't there already.
- A Small Warzone is back! -
No one told me about this and I haven't been doing my zone surfing, but dgus' Small Warzone is indeed back and sporting the same trademark weird settings and tiny map that made it the first great player run zone. Next time you get sick of the huge VIE games and want a more casual, smaller arena with a friendly player base, check this zone out. This was my favorite zone for a while and I will probably be playing in it a lot myself after I finish my damned map. >:P
- Silent Dragon banned from Moolie Zone -
The author of the map currently up in Moolie Zone is banned from the zone for the day. I'm not going to get into this one but I bet this is the first time in the history of Subspace that someone has been banned from playing on his own map. For SD's part, he is off to A Small Warzone for the time being...wonder where the next SD map will appear. For those not in the know, SD makes a lot of the good small maps for player zones, especially Moolie. Hopefully this will be cleared up soon.
- Elsewhere -
I added AubArena to the links table because it looks like a promising site and is showing regular updates. The place is a little funky at the moment but it's nice looking and should kick some ass once it's polished. Go have a look.
3/12/98
- Harmless Moves -
Harmless is JeffP's and Rod Humble's new venture after leaving VIE. When I got an error message earlier this morning I was quite alarmed. However, the fact of the matter is they have just moved the site to www.harmlessgames.com. Why was the old directory moved? Your guess is as good as mine. Aside from the move, there seems to have been no updating of the site, but at least the change implies that the company is still alive and awake.
- Dinner Time -
Cybrid posted a hilarious parody at his News.Txt of recent goings on in Subdom. You have to read this.
- Elsewhere -
Blackie updated VIE News. SubScene will soon be accepting staff applications...SubWorld has a new staff member...SubStation looking for staff...bunch of wussies. :P
3/11/98
- Nothing! -
God what a lousy day! Got up at 6:00 after a good night's rest, fixed myself a nice low-maintenance breakfast and was on top of the world for about an hour and a half, then all hell breaks loose. I get to sit through a three hour long "communications" class fighting off a sinus infection and nosebleeds and the all encompassing benevolent hand of dextromethorphan hydrobromide, a mild hallucinogen commonly mistaken for a cough suppressant. Conditions persist throughout the afternoon and builkd to a climax during--you guessed it--a "contemporary composers" concert. Never EVER be a captive audience at one of these things. They are experimenting on you.
A guy makes farting noises on a French horn while the composer plinks out various notes on the piano which seem they must be mapped somehow to the farting horn noises, or perhaps the buzz of the lights in the room. An amazing but tragically misguided pianist plays random strings of major chords, each hand in a different time signature (I kid you not) for in excess of twenty minutes. NEVER EVER GO TO ONE OF THESE THINGS. Go to Borders and make them open up all their cds and listen to em there. Today's hard learned lesson is avoid live music at all costs.
- Start Reading Here -
You didn't need to read all that above. That was misplaced from the unofficial e page or something. The poing of this update is to tell you there is no update because nothing is going on and I'm going to go fly my Lev around for a while then go to bed! Actually, a few minor items...
- Thank you! -
To everyone who supported or linked to or otherwise answered my post on the boards yesterday, many thanks. I dunno if it's going to make a big splash in and of itself but I sensed it got some wheels spinning. Anyway I appreciate it and owe you all a favor because the issue is personally important to me.
- No Flags -
I'm faced with the prospect of having my first map (31 Flags) hosted somewhere, and so I'm reconsidering its usefulness as anything other than a Dueling Zone map and starting to tear it limb from limb. It should be a much more multipurpose map by the time I'm done with it. The small warzone map is done and I just need to fix two tiles and make it official now.
3/9/98
- Monday's Subspace Meeting -
I actually think it's pretty boring to report on this stuff but just for the hell of it, here is the log before anyone else posted it. My time to shine, neener neener. EAT IT! ;P
Stuff worth pointing out... This is all from memory and probably half of it is wrong. I don't care cuz this isn't a news page!
There will be a group of players called "trustees" who will consult with zone Vangels on issues important to that zone.
Most likely there will be some kind of a mechanism set up where players can vote on which maps they want.
"The process for choosing the second round of VANGELs will be posted on the news section of the SubSpace Website the 3rd week of March"
The new Vangels list will be posted tomorrow.
One of the Alpha Zones is about to be eliminated.
Blackie agreed to give me a chance, sometime tomorrow, to hear my ideas for Turf Arizona. That is, to keep (in some form, in some zone) the running style flag game in a Turf map, possibly adding Jackpot or Rabbit elements in order to drive the red chase into the tunnels.
No word on the fate of the third Chaos Zone.
Running Zone will be back soon. Thursday if we are lucky.
- Map Change Proposal! -
I've put up a sweeping proposal for map changes across the entire VIE territory. It is moderate and sensible. *Please* read my post and respond with a yes vote so that VIE will see the popular favor for map changes. There are direct links to the images of these maps provided in the message. Of course, if you hate the idea go ahead and trash it. :P
- Chaos Nevada, R.I.P. -
Word from sources (cough) within VIE is that the fate of a Chaos Zone is on the table at Monday's meeting. While no one has named a particular zone and the issue is still clearly open to debate, I'm inclined to think the axe will fall on Chaos Nevada, whose server takes an unfair proportion of the Subspace traffic while hosting the same map and settings as Chaos East. While CZE recently became GEast, it retains a certain classic quality and I'm inclined to doubt it will be dissolved.
Whichever zone is taken away will supposedly make room for one or more player-run zones. This is frankly doubtful considering Blackie's declaration last week that the new zones would be added and not mean the death of any other zone.
- SubArena Moves Again -
Subarena ditched Maximum Gaming for GamesNet without so much as a goodbye! In fact, the news was not updated and the html is now a big mess. :) Good luck to SubArena, I hope you have fun over there you disloyal cretin! Clean up your page and maybe I'll put your link back. ;P
- SubScene Updates Veterans Page -
Several additions to SubScene's answer to the Hall of Fame today. Congratulations all.
- The Fallen Outpost -
My second map is unofficially finished and after a little testing should be up later today. The name has been changed and will probably be changed again. This is my small War Zone map made for Moolie Zone or another one like it. For an updated sneak preview look here. (This was broken for a while. Sorry.)
3/8/98
- Lame Stuff Continues -
WestNet is still completely screwed and I've started bringing some files over here that were formerly trapped in my WestNet html directory. The directory is there, my account is active, the local newsgroups are empty, and I have absolutely no idea what is going on. Sorry to all you Space Police who are, I'm sure, eagerly awaiting your orders for the business week. Somehow I have faith that law and order will survive a week without your help...
- Go Cybrid! -
As I had hoped, the News Dot Text is now the main news page at Subspace Warzone Com! Congratulations to Cybrid on the gig. Now all you need is to get rid of the frame and the java and the banner and it will be *perfect*. ;) As reported on the main Warzone page, for which Cybrid is also now writing:
- Subspace Clone for Java -
Mafia posted this link on the Suggboard a while ago. I am actually very very impressed with this game in single player mode. Haven't had a chance to do multiplayer. It's called Domination. Go and have a look.
- 1.33 Crack. -
Hmm. The 1.33 crack is out. I told you so, VIE. Now I feel kind of bad, because I made light of the fact that VIE was going to lose customer loyalty for this and now it's really happened. I've seen a tremendous drop in the level of outrage against pirating of Subspace, and furthermore it's impossible now to tell what the motives are of someone wanting the crack. It didn't used to be necessary to have the crack if you were a retail player. Now, for some people, for their own reasons, it is.
I'm not going to link to the file out of respect for Maxgaming and because I don't think people should use it to freeload. If it's that important to you, you know where to look. If your issue is not the CD thing but that you simply don't want to buy the game, please buy the game. We're dealing with an outgunned effort here that is habitually ignored by the press and up against the real giants of online gaming. Subspace was free for nearly two years and is now one of the least expensive games on the market. Please buy your copy.
- Running Zone Arizona? -
Those of us willing to try something new have been spending time enjoying a running style flag game in General Rage's Turf Zone map. While this has probably only thus far been written about in the form of a complaint, I am making a recommendation, since this zone's days are probably numbered. What you have here is a Running game with no jackpot, 16 flags in a map with a lot of open space in the middle and a ring of mostly tight hallways filling the outer quadrants. I played a few games here out in the open, and one game where we took to the halls. The last red had disappeared and we were hunting for him. I always wondered why VIE never hosted this kind of a flag game in a map with bases, and I suppose the obvious answer is that it takes forever and the reds might end up being protected and coddled and having nothing to do. Personally I am having a lot of fun with it and will miss it when it's gone. There's a unique sensation to carefully navigating a maze when you have something they want and they have something you want...mind you the other red was a cloaker and I was without xradar. The whole thing had a certain Cameronesque feel to it. Don't be one of those unpleasant people who joins a weird zone and says "????" and then leaves. Come in and give the game a chance.
- SSZ East -
HaNsMaN Jr of the Subspace MapMakers Guild has put up this site as part of a map test. It is running on a fast connection, and you will need it from the way the ships are set--super settings across the board! In fact, most of the ships are virtually identical and I am hoping for more traditional settings soon. HaNsMaN Jr is testing a map he's making for Alpha Zone. An interesting altered tileset with some nice custom pieces, some good tunnel design, and lots and lots of asteroids and open space. HaNsMaN is aiming straight for Alpha with this one so go in and help him test it out. This should be an interesting zone to play in if it stays up consistently and the map rotation is good....in the meantime, change those settings, bro. My eyes are still hurting. ;P
- SubStation Is Back -
Well, Woop @$$$ got his votes and his page is now back up with a new look and a new logo. Let's hope that this time around he focuses on what's good about his page and doesn't try to compete with the big ol' turrets out there. For one thing, more editorials! Go and visit the new SubStation, and this time if you have criticism be nice about it. :P
- New SS Pages -
Subworld opened March 6. This is Asher's page and has a couple nice graphics but nothing else yet. Keep your eyes peeled.
The House-o-Funk SubSpace Page also opened up on the 6th. All that's there at the moment is some real nice design and a news page I find extremely refreshing because it actually says something about the page author and not the game. I can tell that this page is going to be classy when it gets going.
- SubArena moves to MaxGaming -
This happened a few days ago apparently, but I was unable to load the page until this morning for some reason. This is Bobby D's page as mentioned here last week, formerly hosted by Geocities. Since it is updated regularly I have added it to my links table below.
- I'm linked! -
This page now has menu links on Subspace Maxig Com and Maximum Gaming, as of yesterday and today. Thanks to Omicron and DJ RaTT respectively. -
3/7/98
- WestNet Problems -
It appears something is wrong with WestNet's http server or something. My account is good and the files are still there, so I assume it's just a matter of time until it's fixed. Anyway, most of the Minefield files and subpages are there right now. I'll be moving them here eventually, and sooner rather than later if this keeps up. Sorry for the inconvenience.
- Vangels Meeting -
Do you really want to hear more about this? Why not skip the article? :)
The meeting went down on EFnet, and was pretty well organized and very successful in my opinion. Summaries are available on Cybrid's and Addiction's pages and I'm sure there is a log somewhere for folks to read. The most important point brought up involved the Vangels' duties regarding player behavior. As far as we know, Vangels will not enforce ethics or morality. Moreover, they will not be narcs. "Dont worry about the foul language" Blackie said. "Concern yourselves with HARASSMENT. I am writing up an official policy." It was made clear to my satisfaction that harrassment means verbal abuse and not simple an in-game vendetta, player hunting, and so forth.
There will be a system whereby complaints against Vangels will find their way directly to Blackie. All Vangel actions will be logged. There will be no moderator powers for at least two months, and any map or settings changes will have to be approved by Blackie and probably the other Vangels.
That's not nearly all that was covered, but what I feel deserves coverage here and might not be mentioned on the other pages. Head elsewhere for the full story. :)
- Subspace.Maxig.Com -
Well I guess this is pretty much what Omicron was talking about, as mentioned below. I received this via ICQ earlier today:
We've relaunched Subspace.MaxiG.Com!
You just *have* to check this out. Link us, spread the word.thx
It's a damned nice page, and I'm linked from it. It's hosted by Maximum Gaming (also the provider for this page) and will mean an end to both the Subspace Database and Addiction's Subspace Page, as it represents a combining of the two pages, a collaboration between Omicron, Wampit, Peasant's Paladin, and GreyCloak. The SS Database will not be deleted, but it will not be updated again, and Addiction's is gearing up for a big move. Interesting, strange times right now, with the SubStation gone and Cybrid moving and now this.
- SubStation Returns? -
The page that closed down last week, apparently in response to comments about its quality, may or may not be opening again. Woop @$$$ wants us to vote on whether or not his page should come back up. I already voted, so call me a hypocrite if you like, but it seems to me that you don't ask people whether or not they want you to maintain a home page. You either maintain it and prove to them that they want it, or you simply ask them what it is they want.
Take a minute to go vote for SubStation. It was a good page and there is no point in its being taken down.
3/6/98
<Jarkom> uh oh, e's high on cough syrup again ;)
- Ugh. -
Well sorry to rip off your trademark daily quoting there Omicron, but I just thought it was pretty appropriate. Also I frankly can't remember what else I wanted to say. Why the hell do I keep hitting shift-down? It's not even a Subspace control. Four times in the last five minutes.
- VRGN zones are very cool.. -
Traditional Alpha and Chaos zones are up and running at VRGN. I don't know how long it has been like this, but Starseed's cool map is running in three zones--an Alpha and a Rabbit Chase, and strangely enough also a War Zone. I don't know what the rationale was behind that. ;) There is also a Chaos map with the immortal West map. Settings all appear traditional, but it's hard to tell when there is no one else around. There is also a Realism Zone with a big ol' news file and a story behind it. The Ghost Ship is running this last one, and still making changes to it, I assume to balance the ships because tey are woefully imbalanced at the moment. Anyway, head over to VRGN Rabbit or Alpha and enjoy the neg game in that fun spiral structure.
- Ye Old WarZoneWest.-
This is not working right now, at least for me--I am getting that message where the server wants me to upgrade although I already have. When it is up and running, I hope it will fit the description. I am starting to miss castle.lvl again.
- DALnet -
I hasten to mention again, because there is a Vangel meeting today and I assume a regular meeting tomorrow: On EFnet no one can hear you scream. /server irc.dal.net to #eblana for a tour of the grounds. I am attempting to convince Blackie that this is a far less problematic and distracting atmosphere and could use some help.
- Better update later today promise. -
I have quite a bit of good news. As usual, most of it will not actually be news but groundless conjecture and grandstanding, but it will be called news. :)
- Omicron is the MAN -
I can't tell you what just yet, but the King of Updates is doing something super cool. No, I'm not saying what, and you probably won't hear it from Yankee99 either since no one is ever going to tell him a secret again. ;P
Anyway, keep your eye on the DB.
- I'm a Vangel! -
I really didn't think I would make it, since I've only been active outside my squad for a couple of months, and even then very quiet up until recently. At any rate I'm very grateful to Blackie for this, because I was pretty nasty to him here and on the boards, and while I might stand by what I said I wouldn't blame him for holding it against me. Good choices for most of the rest, as far as I can tell. I know maybe 1/3 of the people chosen, and another third by reputation, so who knows.
I'm going to have something to do with test zones. I know not what. Since I'm the only person signed up for that so far, I guess I should say message me with any suggestions, requests, etc, and I'll try and keep a notebook or something.
- Did I mention I suck at mail? -
I have a big problem with answering mail. Somewhere on my hard drive is a zipped up inbox from an old shell account. There are 3000 messages in it. I am not joking. Granted, most of those were answered, and many of the rest were from people I didn't care for. What I'm saying here is that I'm starting to get mail about this page and I'm kind of out of practice at responding to mail, so please don't be upset if I forget you. I'm working on it. :) Just write again and remind me.
3/4/98
- Lazy! -
I've been tiling my small war zone all day long. It's getting pretty insane and is going to be the best small WZ to date, trust me. :) Anyway I only played for a few minutes. (Squad teaming in Chaos West M10 is fun beyond belief.) Didn't so much as wink at the boards, didn't read anyone's page. I feel like an ass, but then again I *am* an ass so that's ok.
- Brand new War Zone map from T2-17 -
There was a post about this on the board a while back, with a reference to a test zone, but I was never able to find that zone. Today I asked him for a copy and he said he was polishing the map up and would be posting it soon. No sign yet, but my impression is that release is imminent. This means there are going to be three great War maps that have never been hosted. For a while I favored Warhammer's second map, but the map Arctos' posted recently is apparently a bit older, and I am a fan of his first design (although he is not). Then again, if the current War East is any indicator, T2-17's new one will probably be a monster and a classic. One thing's for sure: There is no reason on Earth or in Hell we all need to keep playing in year old maps. Let's have a change and soon. I'm planning on drumming up a thread on the boards later in the week. An organized one, perhaps, with a modest list of suggested maps that should not be too controversial. I am of course no one to decide what goes in that proposal, but someone hs to make it. If you are passionately in favor of a certain map, please write.
- 5.9 Day -
World population hit 5,900,000,000 today! No one seemed to care. I invited the Trash Board to an IRC party and no one showed up. Oh well, screw you guys. :) The more the merrier, I say.
- Seldom Asked Questions -
I've received quite a bit of mail about this, and you guys are starting to double up on answers. This is my fault obviously and I'm sorry for wasting your time on answers I in some cases already had. Please don't send any more until I have a chance to update that section. Well, feel free to do so, but I'm absolved of guilt if you do!
- Vangels List -
It seems there may be no Vangels list. It was mentioned (I forget where) that those chosen would receive mail yesterday afternoon. Since no one mentioned this on the boards and VIE's news was not updated, I assume the mails were not sent out. It crossed my mind that the list may simply be a secret, but I can think of a few people who would be pissed off by this and post anonymously to the boards about it.
- Elsewhere -
Check out Addiction's page for information on the two-bomb bug. This is going to be a serious problem if VIE will not address the bug. suicide has proposed a solution on the Suggboard. Will it be taken seriously? Not on your life. Does it make for interesting and informative reading? Hell yeah. Go suicide. There is also an update on the status of the effort to crack the lameass CD security we all know and love, at Addiction as well as the Database.
- Liar! -
Of course, by the end of this I went and read the board and the pages and whatever else, so that first paragraph is really just spam.
- Ever? -
- the demise of SubStation
- Flamethrower Zone
- a treatise on minerepelling
- maybe (just maybe) an mp3 from funkydesertbreaks
3/3/98
- The fate of the News.txt -
Yankee99 has posted a log to the Trash board alleging a conversation with Cybrid. According to the log, Cybrid is quitting the News.txt and will instead be writing for the main Warzone page. This is distressing news if it is true. For one thing, the News.txt is more respected, especially among Subspace players. Personally I would like to see the News.txt live on as a Subspace page; lord knows Cybrid has enough interest in <bitterly>other games</bitterly> to feed the news section of another page. ;P Moreover, you'd think the people at Wz would recognize the superiority of Cybrid's news to their own and simply ask him to maintain the News.txt as the main news page. I'm sorry, if Cybrid does this and is happy with it then so am I, but at the moment I am irked.
Anyway...uncool of Yankee99 to post the log after he was explicitly asked not to. Shame on you Yankee. I don't like referencing it but since it's there for all to see anyway, no further harm done I suppose...so read the post here.
- Move. -
Well, here I am on Maxgaming. Thanks to Sith for the space and help. While the main pages will be here, don't be surprised to find some of them on WestNet. I'll be keeping some stuff over there that may be inappropriate to host on donated disk space--for example, if I make an mp3 of something in the Playlist section, I will probably keep it at my own ISP unless I get either the artist's or maxig's permission. At any rate, sorry for the poor updating over the weekend. Then again, you *were* warned, weren't you? :)
- Look what I did! -
Not much, actually. Erm, well here is the cool part. I talked Gold into using my patented Weasel in his Paintball Zone. In this configuration the ship has no guns and its EMP does no actual damage but stops recharge for two or three times as long. My hope is that this will be fun if you make it the only ship able to effectively carry turrets and put a Small Warzone style Terrier (badass guns but no thrust or speed to speak of) thus forcing teamwork. I dare anyone to try this. So far everyone hates it. Muahahaha.
By the way, Gold is having problems with routing at his ISP. If you go there and find yourself horribly lagged, number one: blame him. The problem is very likely not your fault. Number two: Go back later. He is visibly angry about the situation and my understanding is he is going downtown tomorrow with his nailgun and a couple of pit bulls and try to work something out with his net provider. Paintball Zone kind of rules so give it a few chances before giving up.
- The security check sucks! -
Nearly unanimous contempt for VIE's new cd-in-the-drive policy on the Suggestion Board. I will put a few highlights here tomorrow, and maybe a rant.
- "Elsewhere" -
I think I should make clear that my Elsewhere sections are meant explicitly to NOT steal anyone's news, but to encourage people to visit other pages by letting them know what has been addressed. I am intentionally being as vague as possible, and mentioning specifics only when necessary to comment on them. If anyone feels that I am lifting from their page, please let me know and I will make an effort to be even less specific or else refrain from any mention whatsoever.
- Elsewhere -
Cybrid reported the move of this page before I had even toyed with the wondering of who to tell and who to let find it on their own. Amazing.
My thanks also to SubScene, who I only just now noticed had updated. SubScene has a bad habit of not looking updated when in fact it has been. They run a great page over there and you ought to check it out if you have not already. Someone (I assume The Romulans?) doesn't seem to like the idea of map rotation. Personally, I would rather see half the zones stocked with shitty maps on a rotating basis than play in the exact same places for months on end. Rotation at any cost, says I! After that is established, there should be plenty of room to debate the merits of individual maps.
Addiction's page reported on the Monday meeting, which I stupidly missed. Why do I always miss the ones Blackie goes to? Or maybe a better question is why does he always miss the ones I go to? ;) At any rate, the log is there, and there is also some new victory music.
Omicron's SS Database links to a site for nuke patches; apparently there was a problem with nuking and channel takeovers again during Monday's meeting. In response to Omicron's mentioning of moving the meetings to a Subspace zone, I have this to say.
- SubScene Tactics page is up. -
I'd been wondering what this was going to be, and I wasn't expecting much more than the kind of fare you see on various pages. Nope. This is really a nice collection of strategies, well described and succinctly written, with icons from the game to help you find what you are looking for. At first glance it seems very disorganized, but this is actually a perfect way of doing it. Anyway, it's up. Go look. Be sure also to submit your own tactics.
- Let's have the meetings on DALnet. -
I have no idea why anyone would have chosen EFnet in the first place. It is a troublemaker's paradise, and most channels sooner or later come under attack and turn into a contest between bots, scripts, and nuke patches. Who needs that? It's time to get some solid security for these meetings. On DALnet you register your channel and you register your name. As long as you show up on the network every 15 days, they are protected by services programs running on the network and you can set modes for how they are run while you are away--and, unlike Undernet's services, DALnet's makes this an instantaneous process. There is also spoof protection and a decent set of IRC Operators (IRCops) who will actually respond to attacks.
These meetings do not belong on EFnet, but I don't think they belong in a zone spawn. This will create problems for foreign players who still can't secure a copy at a reasonable price, and unless we're to set up a whole new zone, people will drop due to lag without our necessarily seeing it. Subspace chat also doesn't allow one to paste between conversations or easily repeat yourself after making a send error or missing the sendee due to a connection problem. Every problem we have seen thus far at EFnet is not a factor on DALnet. Come to think of it, I haven't seen a takeover attempt in months, and I've seen one nuking in the last week.
It's also worth noting that my home away from Subspace, #eblana, is a nest of on-again-off-again Subspace nerds on DALnet with good channel opping skills and nuke savvy. They are why #cze was the one meeting channel not to be taken over in some form on Saturday. They all owe me money and will do anything for me. ;)
Anyway I have #sniper registered if anyone would like to use that, or grow your own. Connect to irc.dal.net sometime and come to #eblana. We're not friendly, but we're helpful. :)
- Tiling is a bitch! -
I am finally powering through my small War Zone map. I'm finally getting a feel for decorative tiling after all this time. I'm still an amateur but I'm starting to figure out how it works. Expect the map completed by the end of the week. (I'm serious this time.) At this point, I may either twist RatMan's arm or duel Silent Dragon to get it hosted in the fab Moolie Zone for a spell. ;)
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