October 1999

Moby> i got no brain
Moby> ui can;t be eaten
Moby> o hshit

undead undead undead

the virginal brides file past his tomb

strewn with time's dead flowers

bereft in deathly bloom

Happy Halloween
31 October 1999

einexile the meek's dead
But you might see me wandering aimlessly through the Sheep Cloning Facility at midnight tonight. :) If I look a bit zombified hopefully the map will argue for why. This is the last scenario I will be running before Christmas; conspiracy theory takes over next week, so except for the SS Con paintball game (if any) you're rid of me for now.

For those interested, the Christmas scenario is called Rudolph's Inferno. Anyone unlucky enough to have had a conversation with me about Christmas TV specials can probably guess where that's going. ;)

Check the Dawn of the Dead page for any last minute news. Otherwise I'll see you at midnight. That's 9pm pacific, i.e. right after the Simpsons special, which you are not to miss either.


Actually, this is depressing
Khris Kruel is quitting. I seriously don't have time to find the retirement message link or comment about it at the moment except to say that this sucks. Check the Zetasquad messageboard for the story.


gtg cya gg tx nt
Anyone willing to retool my text colors to orange and black, send me the html and I'll send you a lock of my hair as thanks.


Void-> WE EAT HUMANS
Void-> NO ESCAPE

    And the smeared skin wrapped limbs

    Of the night brothers

    Struggling.... crawling

    Through the empty crack of morning

Dawn of the Dead
30 October 1999


No update today really
Just working on the scenario. I may update much later if I have time. The page for the scenario is now up. Please have a look at it if you are interested in coming. This scenario runs only once a year so if you aren't coming you better be sure it's cuz you don't wanna. :)

    Dawn of the Dead 1999


Screw it
Ah well, if nothing else this is probably a momentous occasion in that I am actually making a second update after saying I might make a second update. As for the scenario, the Sheep Cloning Facility is down as of this writing. Even if it does come up, I cannot run it because the news has been posted (thanks Pikapoo) and I've already told a dozen or so people the game is off, plus wasted a lot of time I needed to set up.

I'll make every effort to run the game tomorrow, but if I am unable to get the server restarted I'll need to borrow someone's zone if it's going to happen. Otherwise it will have to wait until two weekends from now.

My thanks anyway to all the people who went out of their way to promote the event, asked about it, put aside time to play tonight, etc. I appreciate it and would run the event in a compromised state were it possible.


<Pikapoo> People? There are real people?

    Hey man, how will you feel

    When all you have and all you own

    Is your only true friend

    When above you in the firmament

    Flow the blood of the prophets

    Out of your reach

    From your aching speech

mini update
28 October 1999


Halloween
Official time for Dawn of the Dead, the annual SCF Halloween game, is Saturday night at 1:00am Eastern time, also known as Sunday morning. Unlike last year, this will be a one night event. Doing it Sunday night just creates too many problems.

I will try and get a page up for tomorrow night, but otherwise need to spend the rest of my time between now and then actually working on it. Some assistance in getting the word out would be appreciated.

Between conspiracy theory, Mine GO BOOM, and hedcase1, there will probably be a casual Slayfest event early in the evening for those interested. Otherwise the normal Slayfest time will be a test for settings and that sort of thing.

Special thanks to Mackieman at DS98 for actually bothering to mention any of the goings on at SCF. :P


Death in Vegas II
Just a reminder: If you are going to SS Con 99 and want to play some real life paintball on Saturday afternoon, you must contact me so I can make the arrangements. Or you can hang at the casinos, get drunk, and waste money like retards then hit all the PG-13 strip clubs, for all I care. :)

If you are going to the Con and are at all interested in this, please spread the word. I kind of have to get back to the arena people as soon as possible.


A word on Hyperspace™
I don't like to talk about Hyperspace™ because I'm the official poster child for the unofficial Klache media blackout, but since someone mentioned the recent silence surrounding the game and kind of made me mad, I will say this much. The silence is quite intentional, and the game will be playable as soon as Alioth and Runecaster want it to be. :) At which point you'll still hear nothing about it if I have anything to say on the matter. But if you're not yet discouraged, Rune did update the Hyperspace™ Dock™.


Okay, so it's Friday now . . .
Sue me.


<repvblicx> e, protect me from the alien mind control parasites.
<einexile> i already have, son....i already have
<repvblicx> oh
<repvblicx> guess that means i'm safe from them
* repvblicx looks for some soda.

    Yeah the seasons come in

    All the nights are woven

    All the nights we'll see them through

    Ahh no hundred men now

    Would dare cut into us

    We'll go on and see it through

N e w s  o f  t h e  D a y
26 October 1999


Subspace Net returns
Don't raise your eyebrow at me, son. Yes, I realize I've spent the last year mocking Subspace.Net and the people running it. Yes, I condemned the auctioning of the site on eBay and even came close to bidding for it myself out of spite. But this really IS a new Subspace.Net we're looking at--and the page has indeed opened; no weeks upon months of shockwave sneak previews here; it's just open and that's the end of it.

Why the sudden enthusiasm? Well it seems that The $niper has made a fatal error and in an weak moment allowed the domain to fall into the hands of someone who is competent and actually gives a damn about Subspace. I speak of none other than hedcase1, AML sysop, SSC Council member, and brand spankin' new owner of everyone's least favorite Subspace url.

Also on task are CybeRise, who contributed 99% of the decent material that did make its way onto SSNet in the last year or so, and conspiracy theory, who will also be keeping a Slayfest page there. But that's another story altogether.


Exiting game . . .
In a departure from standard Subspace procedure, mDK, who quit as ASWZ sysop a week ago, is actually taking the time to clean up his mess and make sure the zone has an infrastructure after he departs. While i88gerbils is the official new sysop of the zone, mDK will remain acting as sysop until the new settings and map are hashed out. The revised AZWZ is in a slightly more classic War Zone style, more greening intensive with less vulching involved in the base fights. The new map, designed by Kirin, has caused a bit of controversy because of its unconventional style for the zone. Have a hop on over there and see for yourself.

mDK also asked me to pass along the url for the league page run by i88gerbils.


Dawn of the Dead
I have been reasked to run this event so many times I have lost count, but I'm glad I insisted on waiting until Halloween, because now I actually want to run it again. :)

For those who were not around last year, Dawn of the Dead was the last scenario ever to run on a VIE server. This was a special deal for Halloween which I threw together at the last minute after Blackie informed the VIE vangels that their zones would very likely be shut down at the end of October.

The idea was that we would play a Halloween themed game with a "rise from the grave" theme as a sort of protest, and then all have a big trash talk afterwards until the zone went down. Well, as you probably know, the VIE zones survived for two more months, but the event served as a much needed steam release for players (including myself) who were deeply demoralized about the future of Subspace even while a good number of prominent players were away from the game at SS Con 98.

True story: Captain Harloch, who wasn't able to go to the event (and who I in fact had not even met at the time) later told me that the event was his main inspiration for the Slayfest games. The scenario is also noteworthy for being the only use of Warhammer's superb second War Zone map. The other map used was Gommy's Alien Resurrection.

This year's Dawn of the Dead will also take place late on Halloween night. I will post exact times later this week. If you have serious problems staying up (or staying home) late that evening please contact me; if enough people can't make Sunday then I will see about moving it to Saturday, which in my opinion would be really lame.

No details on the specifics of the game just yet, except to say that nearly everything about it is going to be brand new, and I have the entire week to work on it. :)

Now someone out there be cool and make me a banner.


I quit
After 4+ months I have resigned as master of ceremonies for the Slayfest events and will be returning to my peripheral capacity as troubleshooting mod and short order mapmaker for the games. conspiracy theory will be taking the position formerly held by Captain Harloch and myself. Khris Kruel and Mine GO BOOM will stay on in their normal capacities.

Meanwhile, we have some new additions. Hedcase1 will be running some of the AML events games as part of Slayfest, at least until there is demand for the expansion of Slayfest to a second day as has previously been discussed. Also, Omicron will be cooking up a scenario or two for us over the next month, in preparation for his massive and daunting Battlegrounds series.

Methinks this is gonna be fun...


Death in Vegas
Slayfest over Nevada, or something. Saturday November 6th........let's play some paintball. Contact me to reserve a spot. The damage to ur wallet should be somewhere between $20 and $30 (paid directly to the paintball pimpas so I can't run off with it and gamble). I will be getting the information together tomorrow so if you are interested check back here for a post. And no, we don't have to play Braveheart, I promise. :)

That saturday will represent my last Slayfest, and I think that is also the weekend conspiracy theory will be in charge of the game at SCF for the first time.


Why I have been quiet

    Very gay Slayfest last weekend, the euphoria from good one this time and me handing over the reigns.
    Too busy listening to the exquisite sound of Napster devouring my soul.
    Planning out a grassroots California secessionist movement.
    Too busy not playing Infantry to not play Subspace.
    Trying to get an A in my last class ever.
    Trying not to cut my last class ever.
    Wondering what 12,000 feet of 16mm film would look like at the bottom of the ocean.

Btw . . .
September 9 and October 12 were the official J12 holidays. Happy belated J12 Day, everyone, and happy slightly less belated J12 Day, too.


<Jamesbai> GAH
<Jamesbai> the fucking internet is broken!

    Beneath the stain of time

    the feeling disappears.

    You are someone else;

    I am still right here.

N e w s  o f  t h e  D a y
18 October 1999



mDK signs off; thank you Subspace
Everyone's favorite non-community chased away another good sysop this weekend. Goodbye to mDK, the only good sysop A Small Warzone ever had, and in fact probably the best sysop in the game. In one of the angriest and saddest rants I've ever seen on a Subspace page, he gives just about everyone their walking papers and then turns in his resignation. It's been a long time coming, and he's pretty much hit the nail right on the head here. Visit Subspace NMEbase Com for the full story.


Slayfest interruptus
Well, I'm not the kind of person who has a last straw...but, if I theoretically have a set of last straws, this weekend was certainly one of them. After not enough people showed to play a medium sized scenario (even by today's standards) I postponed the scenario. My thanks to Capt Yummy, who pretty much saved the evening from being a total downer by sending me Mine GO BOOM's krazy Philo Club settings...and, as always, to Khris Kruel and conspiracy theory--the best, most dedicated, most loyal people in this game. The rest of the people who came also. I appreciate your putting up with the complaining and the floundering around.

Sorry to anyone who was actually looking forward to this, but actually I am canceling the scenario entirely, along with the related ones, and probably Dawn of the Dead as well. It is simply not worth the time it takes to prepare these, or the time I set aside to run them, or the grief it all causes me, which is honestly considerable. I'd rather be doing something else than talking myself into appreciating what's left of the game.

If I sound demoralized, it is because I was looking forward to Halloween for a long time and now I am honestly dreading it. I certainly don't intend to bother making a map for it now, much less ask someone else to make one, which had been my intention.

I was of a mind to take stuff personally for a while, but it has become increasingly evident to me that this game really no longer possesses a community per se, as there appears to be minimal interaction between the various cliques within it. At best, there is a minimum of cooperation between zone sysops, and I wouldn't be surprised if I am the only sysop left in the game who ever bothers to promote zones in which I am not myself a staff member.

Why is the game like this? Why have the various zones turned into incestuous little fortresses? This is not mere speculation on my part. I talk to people who play only Trench Wars, for instance, and they explain to me that they don't understand the other zones. You go into almost any zone, and the people there will tell you that all of the other zones suck. Not only do they suck, but they are counter to the spirit of Subspace, they split the community, drive all the players away, blah blah blah.

The game isn't that different anywhere you go, people. The problem is not the settings; the problem is you. Your uptight unwillingness to try anything new is what's been destroying this game--nothing else. It's no wonder people like mDK and Baudchaser and hydro don't really care anymore if Subspace survives or not.

I'm beginning not to care either.



<Shanoyu> on a lighter note I hate everyone.

    If the sky that we look upon

    Should tumble and fall

    Or the mountain should crumble to the sea

    I won't cry, I won't cry

    No I won't shed a tear

    Just as long as you stand by me

N e w s  o f  t h e  D a y
16 October 1999


Slayfest quickie
Scenario page for Convergence Over Apprentice Point is up. The scenario is actually in an hour and a half so I don't have time for a full update, though I might expand this one a bit later. Probably I will just go see Fight Club though. :)

This will be the first in a chain of scenarios following a fairly vague storyline. The second is tentatively titled The Scuttling of Calliope and will be more fun than this one.

Shanoyu has been kind enough to begin an expansion on my vague storyline which you can read at the scenario page. Expect a bit more where this came from if I can twist him arm enough.

As always, if nothing else please at least skim the rules and objectives before joining the scenario. Game time is 8:00pm in SSCX SCF West.


ASWZ changes
mDK took a day off from real life to update A Small Warzone into a more skillful contest focused on teamplay. A vulch-free new map by Kirin is up, sporting a few of the best base designs I have seen in the zone in quite some time. The Turf and SVS arenas have been delayed until issues with the subgame in use can be worked out, but SVS players should feel right at home in this oldskoolesque map, and a little more comfortable in the revised ship settings.


Turf dud No one showed, including me. Middle of Saturday is a bad time. It seems Subspace players will get up early, stay up a few extra hours, or come to something that is run late, but put something in the afternoon and it will likely bomb. Mystery solved Thanks Georgia for the link out from Infantryzone. It seems Infantry has more fans than it actually has players. ;) But I dare you folks to link me next time I have something to say about the game that is even a little bit controversial... Speaking of controversy, wouldn't VIE UK be much more comfortable selling off Subspace (or leasing it, as the case may actually be) if Gamefan showed more of an interest in the promotion of Infantry? If the search engine there is to be believed, the network has thus far linked the game once.

<einexile> Anyone else in here not a philistine? 
<Dariakus> I am a philistine. Sorry.
<saltygirl> what's a philistine? 

This moment's all 

You have it there 

This moment hangs like your ragged hair 

Celebrate with love and praise elebrate for our lesser days 

N e w s  o f  t h e  D a y
13 October 1999

Wow 
Where the hell did all these hits come from? I went from a modern day low to an all time high inside of two days. Whatever web god linked me, thanks. Everyone else, welcome to the Minefield or something.

Homeworld 
No time to go into this at the moment, but suffice it to say I am in love. This game is indescribable but I will try later tonight anyway. I have not been so enthralled by something since the beta days of Subspace, maybe even since Aliens came out. What Homeworld has accomplished is completely unprecedented in so many different ways. Rant forthcoming. Meanwhile get the demo.

Convergence update 
Most of you probably haven't seen the page for this since I haven't linked to it yet, which is fine because it's not really done. Shanoyu has done some writing for it and I'll be coercing more out of him before the scenario actually runs, plus adding a bit of my own most likely.

More on this later as well. Sorry for the quickie but I really have to go. :)

Turf again? 
Well, not even a month has gone by and there's already another Turf game scheduled. :P This one is at 2pm Eastern on Saturday, which should improve the turnout some. The last one was at noon which meant us left coasters had to get up at 9 on a Saturday. It actually amazed me how many people showed up to that. It was fun with 30 people but definitely put aside some time for this weekend's game because it is likely to be bigger, the way Turf was meant to be. Thanks Rev.Spork for the scoop as always.

There is no mysterious rhythm to who gets specced...we don't have a roulette wheel with your names on it, although that's a good idea... ;)         -Shanoyu 

Oooh, oh baby, I been flyin' 

Lord, yeah, mama, there ain't no denyin' 

Oh, oooh yes, I've been flying 

Mama ma, ain't no denyin', no denyin' 

N e w s  o f  t h e  D a y 11 October 1999

Infantry 
What can I say? I was predisposed to disliking the game, to wishing evil on it and its creators, and to looking for reasons to hate it and trash it from the moment I started the download. In fact I only registered for it initially in order to secure myself a spot on the new Subspace servers. I thus entered my first came of the beta test fully expecting to have this bias, and honestly intending to fight that bias, to make a real attempt at enjoying the game anyway. Still...I got in there and wanted to smash the fucking monitor. This lasted maybe two days. And all this time I was determined to keep my mouth shut, because hey...sour grapes and all that. Who wants to read the chip on someone's shoulder? Lo and behold, one day I am flying around the wastes of Titan, cultivating a bad attitude and furrowing my brow, minding my own business, when the game sneaks up behind me and puts this dumb grin on my face. And I'm thinking to myself, Christ this is fun. I'm thinking, fuck you guys for making me like your damned game. So I was wrong. Infantry rocks. And it came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. That is to say, most of the things I was at one time upset were being left out of the game...don't really seem to be necessary. In spite of the appearance of complexity, the simplicity of the game shines through just as it did in Subspace--and what Jeff and Rod have done here is create an awesome action game which is incredibly simple but full of the potential for complexity within the present game. It doesn't seem to need destroyable walls, traps, clever map design, or any of the other things some were suggesting and others including myself were demanding. The simple complexity / complex simplicity factor feels very close to Subspace indeed, and I frankly don't think the game is that far from being utterly perfect. Props and respect to Rod and Jeff, and I take back what I said in May.

The ultimate Suspace scenario ?
Cybrid mentioned some time ago at the Gamefan Network's official Subspace Zone that Omicron of SS Database and Warstrike infamy, recently forced semi-offline for a few months, has undertaken a new project--a scenario series not unlike the Battlegrounds scenarios proposed for two summers ago--the most ambitious ever planned--which for a number of reasons unfortunately never saw fruition. Omicron's project is in fact the long awaited Battlegrounds. To wit: I'm working on a new Subspace scenario entitled Subspace: Battlegrounds. I'll have more specifics out when I can get some webspace for this (URL to come when the page is uploaded), but basically it's a series of missions/scenarios that will be run campaign style. In other words, there is a storyline, and also a mission tree that will be written around that storyline. Each mission will have a primary objective that determines the course through the mission tree, as well as secondary objectives that determine resources available to the different sides and influnce the storyline. What I really need is some help :) I need maps/tilesets/publicity (not yet tho)... Tough, you're getting it anyway. :) ...ship graphics/mission briefings written in flash.. as well as *any* suggestions you guys may have. if you can help, contact me.. i *will* need it. thx

He hastened to clarify that the scenario is still very much in the planning stages and that now is not the time for signups or moderator applications, so please don't contact him about that as he can't handle that kind of a mail load these days. Back in early 1998, Omicron's Subspace Database was one of the Big Four fan pages for Subspace, along with the News Dot Text, Addiction's Subspace Page, and Substation. He later closed the Database to join up with the Addiction staff in the creation of Subspace Maxig Com, which in time became Warstrike. More recently he has been active in reporting on Hyperspace. A little known fact: I stole the idea for my quotes section from him after the Database closed. You learn something new every day, eh? Convergence Over Apprentice Point You dicks missed a good Slayfest, largely because you were all playing Infantry or Trench Wars (well, never mind about Trench Wars actually) but also because I neglected to advertize it at all. The reason for this is simple: The scenario wasn't ready until about fifteen minutes before I ran it. It was, however, the first full blown scenario I have made on my own since Suspended, and the first I've run since Ancient Kingdoms (which was half-assed and unoriginal) with the exception of Rodvik's old Juno a week or two ago. It was spur of the moment, buggy, and without any backstory beyond a short blurb I put in the news.txt file, but it was quite fun and I will run it again next week, possibly with the help of ol' Captain Harloch from mythical days of yore. Yes he does exist. ;) I'll put a page up for this sometime soon and maybe post an ad. For those who didn't make it this weekend or would like to p1mp me up :) the scen is called Convergence Over Apprentice Point (yes, this is named after a long vanished Subspace player) and involves a two team flag hunt over and under an abandoned world. Check the Scenarios subpage tomorrow or the next day for more information. If anyone out there wants to work on the page and/or art for this or assist me in promoting the event, I would really appreciate the help. Thanks While I am on the subject of Slayfest, I want to send a special thank you to the people who stuck around after Saturday's scenario to help me design and test my special SVS settings. This was a tremendous help and the settings are now ready to go because of it. More on their purpose in a future update. Oh yeah Don't know if I mentioned this already, but everything in my left frame finally points to an actual page (except that some of the subframes in the Links section are brokedick). All of these are internal except for the CFC which I kept there because it started here. Also I updated the SCF and Scenarios pages tonight. Lastly, thanks Cybrid for the mention of my Space Junk section, as well as to everyone else who has contacted me about it. It is good to know that people are checking it out and having some fun with the old files and pages there. The greatest western of all time . . . . . . is finally out on DVD. A Fistful of Dollars came out on the 5th of this month and is selling for $17.50 on most of the mailorder pages. In case you didn't know, this movie is the first in a trilogy whose last chapter is none other than The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. A little known fact, which is actually hearsay but I don't care: Segio Leone intended to kill off Clint Eastood's "man with no name" character in the first ten minutes of Once Upon a Time in the West, along with a number of other famous western figures, but Eastwood refused to play the role for that purpose. Leone's final homage to the genre is thus sadly without his own most well known character. Screw you Clint.

<monocle> a rocket is NOT an anti-personnel weapon You know the day destroys the night, night divides the day. Tried to run, tried to hide. Break on through to the other side.

N e w s  o f  t h e  D a y
6 October 1999
Hrm
This is very disorienting because I thought I had updated since the last update. Sorry to vanish off the face of the Earth like that. People were asking me when I was going to update and I was thinking, calm down already...doh. A lot of stuff has gone down in the last week and I'm just going to write about it here a little because I'm in no mood for form an actual news update per se. I'm actually in a very bad mood and I'm not certain why, so forgive me if I sound a bit phony here as I strain to be pleasant. No one is around. I think everyone closes ICQ to play Infantry. A lot of remarks have been made about how demanding the game is on the CPU. These simply aren't the case. Like any other game that has come out in the last year, unless you have a new computer you need a new video card to run it effectively. I am getting between 30 and 70 frames per second on a Pentium Pro 200 with a Voodoo 3 card, and it's likely I'd be getting near to that on a Banshee, which is far less expensive, especially used. They are selling on eBay for between $15 and $40. I was going to say more about Infantry but I have a lot more to say and will say it in the update which I will hopefully remember to post sometime tomorrow. It's getting to be near the time where I have to either upload or change the date. ;) What I will say now, since I have probably been the most vocal critic of the game and its designers--and since it is obvious to anyone who reads this page regularly that I was not only expecting to dislike it but hoping to dislike it--is that I was wrong. In my opinion the game stands today, with all its flaws and irritating design quirks--as one of the best action games I have ever played--maybe the best. It was reported at 8025: A Spec Freq Ghost Ship did in fact leave the Council and....wow, a Subspace site that actually updated meaningfully in the last week, perish the thought. ;) Just now I was going to confirm the speculation he posted, because it is not a secret even though everyone seems to be treating it as one--but 8025 did eventually post what I sent him about it anyway--not, however, before performing their duty as journalists to dig up as many rumors and as much rampant speculation as possible. I do not say this lightly. The news pages in SS have come under fire--from certain quarters I won't dignify with a name--for posting rumor and speculation under the guise of...rumor and speculation. I speak for most of the news pages worth anything in this game when I say we aren't sorry. The noisy part of this community is made up of people who have earned a collective reputation for being honest and operating in good faith; usually those rumors are true, and the speculation written with the good of the game in mind. In such an environment, news posts of that type--when properly labeled as what they are--can be a good thing. Fake news...props to everyone who figured it out, props to everyone who was fooled, as I was the first time I read it, and had the dignity to simply say "aww shucks ya got me" (or say nothing at all) and be on about their business, instead of bursting a vein and giving birth to kittens. Props to no one else. My new week's resolution is to not be sidetracked again by the SS Council, by Infantry, or by this wretched movie of mine which was still in post-production until I finally had the sense to cut my losses altogether on Thursday and cancel the project outright. It's 12:03 (actually now it's 12:22, cough) on the 7th now and time to shut the hell up. More on everything tomorrow. Goodnight Subspace. Sorry for all the growling. Your friend, Cap'n Ahab. <monocle> a rocket is NOT an anti-personnel weapon You know the day destroys the night, night divides the day. Tried to run, tried to hide. Break on through to the other side.

N e w s  o f  t h e  D a y
6 October 1999
Hrm
This is very disorienting because I thought I had updated since the last update. Sorry to vanish off the face of the Earth like that. People were asking me when I was going to update and I was thinking, calm down already...doh. A lot of stuff has gone down in the last week and I'm just going to write about it here a little because I'm in no mood for form an actual news update per se. I'm actually in a very bad mood and I'm not certain why, so forgive me if I sound a bit phony here as I strain to be pleasant. No one is around. I think everyone closes ICQ to play Infantry. A lot of remarks have been made about how demanding the game is on the CPU. These simply aren't the case. Like any other game that has come out in the last year, unless you have a new computer you need a new video card to run it effectively. I am getting between 30 and 70 frames per second on a Pentium Pro 200 with a Voodoo 3 card, and it's likely I'd be getting near to that on a Banshee, which is far less expensive, especially used. They are selling on eBay for between $15 and $40. I was going to say more about Infantry but I have a lot more to say and will say it in the update which I will hopefully remember to post sometime tomorrow. It's getting to be near the time where I have to either upload or change the date. ;) What I will say now, since I have probably been the most vocal critic of the game and its designers--and since it is obvious to anyone who reads this page regularly that I was not only expecting to dislike it but hoping to dislike it--is that I was wrong. In my opinion the game stands today, with all its flaws and irritating design quirks--as one of the best action games I have ever played--maybe the best. It was reported at 8025: A Spec Freq Ghost Ship did in fact leave the Council and....wow, a Subspace site that actually updated meaningfully in the last week, perish the thought. ;) Just now I was going to confirm the speculation he posted, because it is not a secret even though everyone seems to be treating it as one--but 8025 did eventually post what I sent him about it anyway--not, however, before performing their duty as journalists to dig up as many rumors and as much rampant speculation as possible. I do not say this lightly. The news pages in SS have come under fire--from certain quarters I won't dignify with a name--for posting rumor and speculation under the guise of...rumor and speculation. I speak for most of the news pages worth anything in this game when I say we aren't sorry. The noisy part of this community is made up of people who have earned a collective reputation for being honest and operating in good faith; usually those rumors are true, and the speculation written with the good of the game in mind. In such an environment, news posts of that type--when properly labeled as what they are--can be a good thing. Fake news...props to everyone who figured it out, props to everyone who was fooled, as I was the first time I read it, and had the dignity to simply say "aww shucks ya got me" (or say nothing at all) and be on about their business, instead of bursting a vein and giving birth to kittens. Props to no one else. My new week's resolution is to not be sidetracked again by the SS Council, by Infantry, or by this wretched movie of mine which was still in post-production until I finally had the sense to cut my losses altogether on Thursday and cancel the project outright. It's 12:03 (actually now it's 12:22, cough) on the 7th now and time to shut the hell up. More on everything tomorrow. Goodnight Subspace. Sorry for all the growling. Your friend, Cap'n Ahab. Back.