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Wednesday, October 27, 2004
The Apprentice: Week 7 analysis
Stacy FINALLY got fired this week on the Apprentice. And we've finally got a hot streak going where the firings are at least partially related to how well the candidate performed during the task. Maybe Trump realized that while firing people randomly on a whim might be great for his ego, it doesn't do anything to help ratings. Trump and Burnett like to brag about how their show has one of the richest and most educated demographics in prime time, but if they want to keep that demo, they need to stick more to merit-based firings rather than transforming into the Jerry Springer show. Big twist this week was the recall of everyone to the boardroom, where the freshly chosen PMs were asked to shuffle the teams. This time by picking the players they did NOT want. Oooh. The effect is the same as if you were picking the ones you wanted, but it feels so much more harsh to the individuals being selected. More importantly, it gives Trump MUCH-NEEDED information on who the "strong" and "weak" candidates are, since he's shown himself to be pretty clueless so far this season. And it plays out in that the first person chosen by Jenn M. as a "weak" candidate ended up getting fired. Based on our rankings so far, Jenn M. got by far the better team out of this shuffling. Wes is a poor judge of talent. He kept Andy or both Kevin and Raj. He was right to keep Kelly, but he should have sent Andy packing, particularly since he said (later in the boardroom) that Andy had always required lots of management. The REAL mistake this episode was in choosing Wes as the leader. The men are being very egalitatarian about this, but in a suprise twist situation, they should have gone with one of the stronger guns, even one who has already led, rather than just going down the list random list. Imagine if Kelly has been chosen. He could have picked both Kevin and Raj and they would have dominated. So, 3 of our 4 positives (Jenn M., Raj, Kevin) are on one team, while only one (Kelly) is on the other team. Another interesting dynamic is that everyone on the new Apex has led a task, but there are two candidates on Mosaic who have not: Sandy and Andy. (Hey that rhymes!) Previews suggest that Andy and Elizabeth lead this week. My ungrounded prediction is that Apex loses and Elizabeth gets fired. So here's my updated rankings of the Apprentice players: Positive - these are the candidates who have stepped up (so far) and look to be strong contenders for the top prize. In descending order...
Neutral - these are candidates who either have not stood out yet, or have had both positive and negative exposures. In descending order...
Negative - these are candidates about whom I would be shocked if they made it to the final four. In descending order...
Speaking of websites, here are the current web addresses of your all the candidates. Stacy - http://stacyrotner.com/
Only Kevin does not yet appear to have milked his fleeting fame. What would be Kevin's address: kevinallen.com redirects to Warner Bros. My personal favorite of all these is definitely Raj's site. It is clearly ALL RAJ! Saturday, October 16, 2004 Apprentice Spoiler Update
The picture on Jenn C.'s website has been removed, which means it was probably a real mistake and a real spoiler, as well. Hehe. I'll lay money that the "little munchkin" is the next to go. Monday, October 11, 2004 Apprentice spolier?
Jenn C's website has some party photos. One includes all the current firees with the exception of two additional people: John and little Stacy. Maybe they are the next to go?
 Friday, October 08, 2004 The Apprentice: Week 5 analysis
Pamela got the axe this week on the Apprentice. I think it was a terrible decision by Trump, but I was not all that surprised. First, he hasn't impressed us very much by his decision-making thus far; second, Pamela had had numerous negative impressions to indicate she was not staying long; and third, she had previously declined real-life party invitations (from colleagues of mine) for this weekend, an indication she'd be appearing in New York for the obligatory post-firing appearances. In any event, Pamela did not make enough of an effort to describe why she should not be fired for the team's failure and Trump let her have it.
Neutral - these are candidates who either have not stood out yet, or have had both positive and negative exposures. In descending order...
Negative - these are candidates about whom I would be shocked if they made it to the final four. In descending order...
Monday, October 04, 2004 Rome: Total War Strategy Guide on Gamespy
Gamespy actually has a pretty good Strategy guide for Rome: Total War. Let me set the scene: You're in your most comfortable chair, sitting in front of your PC, with the lights low, the significant other out of town, and the phone off the hook. You're about to conquer Rome. The sun has just gone down, and you're not planning on stopping until long after the sun has come back up.It's a whopping 33 pages, but it's a good read for those who need some help with basics of strategy, and a great overview of what the game is all about for those who still have not bought it yet. UPDATE: There is a demo you can download at IGN.com ROME: TOTAL WAR
I'm playing ROME: TOTAL WAR right now. It's a compelling game, even just in single-player mode. It's very close to the original Civilization, but the real-time tactical battles and the faction politics make it much more engrossing. From the homepage Rome: Total War is the next generation in epic strategy gaming from the critically acclaimed and award winning Total War brand. The aim of the game is to conquer, rule and manipulate the Roman Empire with the ultimate goal of being declared as the 'Imperator' of Rome.On top of that, there is the role-playing aspect of it where you try to advance the careers of your family members. It's a very well-done game and has a lot of innovative game features. Without giving a detailed review, let me just say I highly recommend it. Also, the graphics are so detailed epic in scale that the History Channel is using the engine to recreate "Decisive Battles" for its upcoming show. More than just a game?
MSNBC carried a story about how Jenn C lost her real job over comments she made on The Aprentice Apprentice' contestant Jennifer Crisafulli was told 'you're fired' by Donald Trump this week. Now the Slingerlands native reportedly has lost her real job as well.Crime never pays. Neither does rascism. Thursday, September 30, 2004 The Apprentice: Week 4 analysis
Here's my continuing analysis of each of The Apprentice candidates so far.
The task this week was opening a restaurant and was scored by how well they fared in Zagat's restaurant survey. One point that no one mentioned was that Apex would miss StacieJ on this task. StacieJ has successfully opened at least TWO different restaurants in major cities. She would have made a great project manager for this task, and if she failed at this they would finally have had a good reason for getting her fired. I must say though, opening a restaurant in two days is pretty impressive. The show had to have arranged some of that stuff in advance for them - foodstuffs, tables, linens, etc. But even so, both teams seemed to do a great job. Of course, because the chef was provided, there were only two things that they really needed to worry about: Decor and Customer Service. So Apex melted down almost completely, while Mosaic (literally) sleep-walked through this task. Trump seems to enjoy giving away the ending in the first 10 minutes. the title was "Be Respected" and in the first scenes we show just how much the women do NOT respect each other, particularly their project manager, Jenn C. Apex lost and Jenn C quickly (and deservedly) got the boot. Looks like my Week 1 observation of her was correct, even though I had her neutral as of last week. I've the ranked the candidates in descending order in three groups: positive, neutral, and negative. Of course, this is all my opinion, so you are free to feel differently. Big movers this week were: Movin' On Up: Jenn M (only decent Apex member) Goin' Down: Sandy (they're calling for her in the boardroom) The current standings so far... Positive - these are the candidates who have stepped up (so far) and look to be strong contenders for the top prize. In descending order...
Neutral - these are candidates who either have not stood out yet, or have had both positive and negative exposures. In descending order...
Negative - these are candidates about whom I would be shocked if they made it to the final four. In descending order...
Wednesday, September 29, 2004 Axis & Allies: Some basic tips on strategy and tactics
Strategy at A&A isn't all that hard. But I still see plenty of players making some absurd decisions in the game, and I shiver, particularly when they are my allies. Here's the advice I'm always giving over and over:
1. Econ up first, then tech up. I have to see situations where it's best to only build one HQ. (Maybe on a tiny map with 8 players...) But even if you're planning to rush, 2 HQs seems so much wiser. I get annoyed when I see my ally build one HQ, a motor pool and an engineer brigade before making any troops. Sheesh. And unless your opponent REALLY SUCKS, you're not going to beat him quickly with a simple rush. 2. Grab and control cities. I see many players ignoring the cities during the game. Cities provide income, which enable you to produce more troops. Your team should grab as many as you can. Use the recon infantry for your first division. It's faster and gets you to the town faster. Move in column formation since you're looking to avoid combat and get there quickly. When capturing a risky city, place your infantry on the far side of the town, but still in the environs. The enemy will enter, but not be able to capture it until they eliminate your unit. Meanwhile you can micro your unit to avoid combat until reinforcements can arrive. This will not save the city from a large force, but it prevents a single regiment from capturing the city from you. 3. Use terrain bonuses(!) Heavy terrain provides enormous benefits to infantry. Keep your infantry IN the woods and cities as much as possible. And keep your vehicles OUT of them. Vehicles in urban areas take much more damage. If you are fighting enemy and they are located in heavy terrain, immediately run to the better terrain; don't fight in the open! When attacking cities, don't engage the enemy until you are IN the city. If necessary, run past him to get into the city so you get better defensive bonuses. If you are in key terrain, be willing to entrench your infantry to help control it. Entrenched infantry in heavy terrain is almost impossible to kill. Once it's entrenched, don't move it to go after stray units or you lose the bonuses. Use other units for maneuver. Entrenched infantry is BETTER than a pile of bunkers for defending a strongpoint. Instead, use those bunkers to augment your entrenched troops, not replace them. 4. Control key terrain. Key terrain is defined as terrain that gives an advantage to the side which controls it. Because of the map configuration, this will usually be an area near the center of the map that controls the flow of the game. It could be a city or a chokepoint. Controlling an area like that gives you the ability to strike at the enemy in multiple locations, while preventing them from hitting your weakpoints. This can snowball, enabling you to spend more money on offense. 5. Keep your army fighting. Unless they are specifically holding a position, keep your troops fighting and gaining experience. Those troops are costing you money in terms of upkeep, so keep them in the fight. Fight, retreat, heal. Fight, retreat, heal. But... 6. Preserve your units. Success in A&A can be most easily predicted by your ability to kill off enemy regiments while keeping yours alive. Unlike other RTS games, units are not fodder to be used up. They gain experience and get with time, but cost money to recruit anew. Focus on killing off enemy regiments rather than causing superficial damage to lots of units, and don't lose your own. So retreat damaged units and heal them up, and avoid engaging in battles where you are at disadvantage. Axis & Allies: Stats and the "best" nation
Out4Blood has been playing Axis & Allies by Timegate Studios. It's still in beta, but Atari has partially lifted the NDA, so we can discuss the game in public.
I was never a big fan of the current statistics package that Timegate is using, even back when they started doing it for Kohan: Kings of War. It's just not that informative. But as Disraeli said: "There are lies, damned lies, and statistics." So let's do the best we can with what we've got... Everyone seems to like playing with the USA. They are the most popular (29.5%) and they win the most (23.6%) so they must be the best, right? After all, nukes are "imbalanced." Wrong. Comparing the play % with the win % shows that the USA is actually the worst nation in terms of performance. By dividing the win % by 2 times the play %, we can determine the win rate, which helps us estimate the odds of winning with that nation, all else held equal (like player skill). Win rates for the nations: 61.1% - Great Britain 54.3% - Japan 51.8% - Russia 50.7% - Germany 40.0% - USA Now, this is not 100% accurate. For instance, maybe newbies play USA and Germany, and only good players try playing Japan and Great Britain. But it does show what type of statistics you would want if you were REALLY interested in helping the community. Ahem... Timegate! And while yo're at it, how about win rates for the various generals. And how about win rates by nation by map type. Or map size. Or 1on1 vs team games. Or FFA games. Or by player skill? Or... Al Gore has a sense of humor
In an Op/Ed piece for the NYT, Al Gore makes a few funny remarks, showing that he was a pretty wry sense of humor: While George Bush's campaign has made "lowering expectations" into a high art form, the record is clear - he's a skilled debater who uses the format to his advantage. There is no reason to expect any less this time around. And if anyone truly has "low expectations" for an incumbent president, that in itself is an issue.And... The debate tomorrow should not seek to discover which candidate would be more fun to have a beer with. As Jon Stewart of the "The Daily Show'' nicely put in 2000, "I want my president to be the designated driver.''And if you remember the very audible sighs that Gore was so roundly lampooned over... The biggest single difference between the debates this year and four years ago is that President Bush cannot simply make promises. He has a record. And I hope that voters will recall the last time Mr. Bush stood on stage for a presidential debate. If elected, he said, he would support allowing Americans to buy prescription drugs from Canada. He promised that his tax cuts would create millions of new jobs. He vowed to end partisan bickering in Washington. Above all, he pledged that if he put American troops into combat: 'The force must be strong enough so that the mission can be accomplished. And the exit strategy needs to be well defined.' Doonesbury Apprentice comic
Bets May Reveal 'Apprentice' Finalists
Yahoo news is reporting that BetWWTS.com has suspended betting on the Apprentice because of a suspicious pattern of bets. Bets May Reveal 'Apprentice' Finalists ...Looks like some of our predictions ring true. Go Kelly! FWIW, the firm also reported: Before the betting was suspended, consulting firm owner Elizabeth Jarosz, 31, led the pack with 5-to-1 odds, investment firm partner Pamela Day, 32, had 7-to-1 odds and marketing director John Willenborg, 24, had 8-to-1 odds to win. Tuesday, September 28, 2004 The end of pr0n?
No joke. There is a real live JPG virus. From Slashdot: This could possibly be the worst viruses yet! Earlier this month Microsoft announced a problem in their GDI driver that processes the way JPEG images are displayed. Someone has finally posted an exploit to Usenet. Easynews, a premium Usenet provider, found the virus Sunday afternoon. Up-to-date information about how we found it and what it does is located at www.easynews.com/virus.txt. When this picture is viewed it installs remote management software (winvnc and radmin) and will connect to irc.Now you need protection just to LOOK! Monday, September 27, 2004
Here's my continuing analysis of each of The Apprentice candidates so far.
The task was almost irrelevant this week except to set up the women losing and StacieJ's ouster as all the women ganged up on her. I was literally laughing out loud as all the women described how terrified they were at StacieJ's behavior. Clearly, they edited this for entertainment purposes. But StacieJ had to go. You can't lead if everyone hates you. But even still, the remaining women look completely dysfunctional. StacieJ's final comment about how they'll now have to go after each other will likely be prophetic. I've broken them down into three groups: positive, neutral, and negative. Of course, this is all my opinion, so feel free to feel differently. Big movers this week were: Movin' On Up: Kevin (led the win), Andy (yet another idea gets used), Jenn M (astute comments), Stacy (by process of elimination?) Goin' Down: Maria (OMG, fails at a marketing task!), Liz (lousy leader) Positive - these are the candidates who have stepped up (so far) and look to be strong contenders for the top prize. In descending order...
Monday, September 20, 2004 The Apprentice: Scores so far...
Here's my analysis of each of The Apprentice candidates so far. I've broken them down into three groups: positive, neutral, and negative. Of course, this is all my opinion, so feel free to feel differently.
Positive - these are the candidates who have stepped up (so far) and look to be strong contenders for the top prize. In descending order...
Heartbeat
Axis & Allies beta NDA (partially) lifted
In an unusual move, Atari has notified its Axis & Allies beta testers that they may now discuss the game outside the private forums. Because we believe that your experiences with the final stages of the beta test will be of interest to the general Axis & Allies community, we've decided to lift the restriction on discussing the game outside of the beta forums. Please feel free to be as open as you wish about your feelings about the game. Though we of course hope that your experiences were entirely positive and that your discussion will reflect that, you should feel free to speak your mind. We only ask that you try to be fair and civil.For those unfamiliar with A&A, check out the website. Fans of RON might find it to be an engaging diversion. It's a World War II RTS game using some of the unique "Kohan" elements that Timegate has enhanced: zones of supply, zones of control, automatic resupply, non-stockpiling economics, unit upkeep, experience, and morale, just to name a few. A&A uses the same basic engine as the upcoming Kohan: Kings of War, so even though it's a new game, the engine has had a lot of extra testing. The good news for Timegate is that this time they actually have a good publisher who is promoting the game. (Unlike their other publishers.) A&A is a great franchise which we hope continues with the RTS version. As I get to spend more time with the beta, I'll passs along my thoughts. Friday, September 17, 2004 Ryder Cup update
Thursday, September 16, 2004 Some analysis of The Apprentice: Episode 2
If there's a lesson to be had here, it's that you don't insult Donald Trump. Despite being, according to Trump, the "best guy in the room," Bradford gets fired for impulsively giving up his immunity. Trump thought that was really, really stupid. Really.
Personally, I didn't think it was that stupid. In any other game, it would have been a calculated risk. A good performer who accepts the same risk with the rest of team should earn an increased level of trust and credibility with his colleagues. Bradford's thinking was that he did well enough such that he wouldn't get fired, but this was an opportunity to earn the respect of the women. However, in Trump's game, not taking Trump seriously earns you an instant boot. Bradford thought that his performance was enough that he could avoid getting fired (I agree), but he didn't count on Trump being pissed at Bradford's hubris. Goodbye. The Apex team will really miss him. Meanwhile, Kelly did a superb job leading the Mosaic team to victory. Congratulations, Kelly. I think he also scored bonus points with Trump (unintentionally) by asking to donate the whole profit to the charity. It's very interesting to see the editing decisions they make on this show. They opted to show some key leadership choices Kelly made, while they constantly showed the other team being indecisive. Kelly also had to pass the moral test about how much money to donate to the charity. Since they hadn't specified up front how much to donate per sale, it was left up to Kelly. [Cut to Kelly grimacing over the decision] One person who actually moved up a notch in my book was StacieJ. Her idea to hire temp workers to shovel out the ice cream could have been a huge plus. She's an entrepreneur who's done this sort of thing before - e.g., hire people to sell food for her profit. Too bad she has no people skills and didn't include anyone else in on the discussion. Why these Apprentice folks think they are "adding value" doing that kind of on-the-street marketing is beyond me. Each team could easily have fielded several carts and made a lot more money by paying the temps $6 an hour ($48 total for the eight hours) with bonuses for performance. Maybe there were some technical rules we didn't get to hear about that would prevent that sort of thinking. Not that it matters, she's damaged goods. Everyone hates her and she got killed in the boardroom - everyone said she should be fired. She won't last very long. Wednesday, September 15, 2004 Someone misses the point
At the Volokh Conspiracy, Orin Kerr whines about a supposed waste of time in the blogosphere. But let me see if I understand things correctly. A presidential election is less than two months away, and there is a war going on right now in Iraq. The war in Iraq raises profound questions about United States policy with regard to the Muslim world for decades to come. But instead of debating the war that is going on right now, we're debating the war records of the two candidates from more than three decades ago. Wait, no, that's too direct: we're debating one network's story about one candidate's war record from three decades ago. Wait, maybe that's too direct, too: we're debating the fonts on different typewriters that may or may not have been used to write a memo that led to a story about one candidate's war record from three decades ago. Yeah, that's pretty much it.Yes we do. We should be blogging about how a supposedly reliable major network news agency has attempted to influence, through fraudulent means, our nation's presidential election process. And also how they were caught red-handed by a bunch of pajama-wearing bloggers. And how, when caught, the supposedly reliable major network news agency attempted to worm its way out of responsibility. Tuesday, September 14, 2004 I'm not going to the Ryder Cup
Yikes! The BBC is reporting that Detroit is not a peaceful city. Statistics show the city is the most violent and dangerous on earth, outside of active war/combat zones. Saturday, September 11, 2004 OT: The Killian Memos
While not a gaming topic per se, you really have to question CBS' game play here. If you haven't heard, CBS came up with a story about some "new" memos shedding unfavorable light on President Bush's guard experience. Tuns out the memos are fakes. But CBS is staunchly defending them. This could spell the end of CBS as a credible new organization, and it CERTAINLY should spell the end of Dan Rather, who "personally vouches" for the authenticity of the memos. Ouch.
For those that haven't cuaght up and want to view a blog-based catching of liars in action. Read Powerline. If you just wanna play T&P, then move along... Thursday, September 09, 2004 Some analysis of The Apprentice: Episode 1
Keep in mind that this is not a pure competition, but merely entertainment in the form of competition. Burnett is no dummy; he's cast people in certain roles through the editing process. The trick for the Apprentice meta-game is to try and understand what roles people are being cast as and then guess as to what the outcome might be based on that.
So far, I see several people filling some obvious roles:
I think the rest of the people have yet to appear in their "roles." Those that didn't stick out will likely whither away slowly while the "stars" play out the "script." UPDATE: There are a few good recaps of the episode. This one at RealityShack and Sam's commentary over at Yahoo! Real-life Gaming - The Apprentice
An old comrade-in-arms from West Point has made it big! Kelly Perdew will be appearing tonight in the new season of The Apprentice. I'm hoping he does well and develops a better TV persona than Omarosa. Kelly and I were in the same company at West Point (D4), went to the Naval Academy together as exchange cadets, and were doubles partners on the racquetball team. In the meantime, he's been very successful: After graduating from West Point, Kelly Perdew completed Ranger School and served two years as a Military Intelligence Officer in the US Army. Kelly raised over $5M in equity financing for three start-up companies, and as the acting President led the sale of one of those start-ups (eteamz.com: the largest amateur sports portal on the web at the time) for eight figures to a company that has since filed for an IPO. He is the Co-Founder and Chairman of a motor enthusiast community website called MotorPride.com, and is currently the President of CoreObjects, an outsourced software development company based in Los Angeles.Knowing Kelly as I do, I have only two questions:
So this makes two "famous" people I've gone to school with. The other one being Wes Cherry. Bonus points if you have any idea why Wes is famous. UPDATE: WOW. Turns out I know Pamela Day also. That makes 2 out of 18 that I know on this show. Cool. Has Ken Jennings ended his 'Jeopardy!' run?
Via Slashdot. SFGate has an article saying: A report posted Wednesday on the TV Week Web site said the brainy software engineer from Utah lost in a show taped Tuesday, walking away after his 75th straight game with about $2.5 million overall in cash and prizes. The magazine cited unnamed sources and said the show would air later this fall.That's a lotta moolah. Wednesday, September 01, 2004 Out4Blood @ Work
Flickr
Sunday, August 29, 2004 O4B's golf handicap falls to 9.7
The USGA announced today that O4B's official USGA handicap index would be 9.7 once the monthly numbers were released on September 1st. This is almost a 4 point decrease from before the summer when he had a 13.2 handicap index. Congratulations!
Friday, August 27, 2004 Sportsmanship - what would YOU do?
Yahoo is reporting that Gymnastics officials want Hamm to give up the gold. For those that are not following the Olympics, Paul Hamm was awarded a gold medal because three judges made a scoring mistake on one of the South Korean athletes. The judges were suspended, but the question remains: Who should get the gold?
Paul Hamm's comeback in the event was a remarkable story. But he's in danger of losing his golden luster as the guy who won what he didn't deserve. If he's worried about his marketing potential as a mere silver medalist, he should think again. It would be a much more impressive story if he were to voluntarily award the medal to the South Korean by himself , "Here, you really won this, not me." Then the story gets even better: Tragic fall, courageous comeback, victory, controversy, and in the end - integrity. This will be the toughest event Paul Hamm faces. Can he stick this landing? Thursday, May 06, 2004 Google Race
The Guardian Unlimited posted the results of their attempt to determine if Google was indeed the fastest way to research obscure questions. They compared the phone, the library, and Google. Google didn't always win, but it wasn't really a fair contest. Who the heck has a library at their fingertips to search for info? And who knows which source book to look in? And when it comes to the phone, you also need to know exactly who to call. If this is what passes as investigative jouralism these days, then count me out.
Nah, forget it. Google is the fastest way to get an answer on something. Thursday, March 25, 2004 Dawn of the Dead
I saw Dawn of the Dead last night. In the genre of Zombie movies, it was pretty good. It was not a very scary movie which was a refreshing change. I tire quickly of movies that attempt to startle you through sudden images or surprises, suhc as many of the slasher movies. Instead, the movie keeps you on the edge because of the inevitable nature of the predicament of the characters. Inside the mall is safe. Outside the mall are thousands of rabid cannibal zombies.
I also appreciated the reasonable and intelligent treatment of the characters. In many of the zombie movies one of the main characters is usually a wacked out irrational freak who does everything possible to jeopardize the group. In this movie, individuals are at times both selfish and reasonable, but always for good reasons. And never totally crazy. One example is the head security guard at the mall. At the start he appears sadistic and controlling, but once he's taken down and forced to accept the communal nature of their prediament, he transforms into a functional and useful member of the team. There's been a relative rash of these Zombie movies recently, starting with Resident Evil. That was a surprisingly good "B" movie starring Milla Jovovich. Another excellent movie in the genre, and probably the best of the lot, was 28 Days Later. I highly recommend that movie to anyone who has an interest in Zombie or Apocalyptic movies. Tuesday, March 16, 2004 Howdy all!
For those of you who noticed my absence, I am back! (For those who didn't, never mind.)
No, Wifey didn't lock me in the closet. No, I didn't get called up in the Reserves. No, I didn't win the Powerball. I was traveling on business to Mexico City and Atlanta. "But now I'm back form outerspace! I just walked in to find you here with that sad look upon your face..." Saturday, February 28, 2004 Slow Week
Monday, February 23, 2004 EC makes it Bigtime
Mars Rover Discoveries Point to Planet's Origins "Scientists were poring over data and microscopic images returned to Earth by the rover Opportunity, which spent the weekend examining a multilayered rock nicknamed El Capitan embedded in the side of the small crater where Opportunity landed on Jan. 24. No more Sex
Wifey doesn't believe it, but I've been a diehard Sex and the City fan since the show began 5 or so years ago. Last night's finale was both funny and sad. The two most poignant moments were entirely incomprehnesible for Wifey because she doesn't know the characters:
Friday, February 20, 2004 Blow your mind
T&P Update: Dangers of isolationism (The ... who?)
The Dev Diary article at 1UP.com has some interesting comments around their selection of the tribes for use in T&P. Looking continentally, we found a preponderance of European and Asian nations; our own North American continent was sadly underrepresented. Since governments were going to be a major part of the expansion, and since the Iroquois nations are attributed with a strong constitutional form of government, they were an obvious choice. Likewise, the Lakota are probably the Native American tribe most strongly recognized in the imaginations of Americans today, due in part to the movie "Dances With Wolves."WHAT?! Call me ignorant, but I'd never heard of the "Lakota" before T&P. Yea, I've seen Dances With Wolves, but I, along with everyone else (except the designers at BHG), never paid attention to the tribe's name. So if you asked people to name Indian Tribes (an example of unprompted brand recognition), they'd probably say: Cherokee (Cherokee People!), Navajo, Sioux, or Apache. But never Lakota. Pause. Okay, on my way to get a soda, I queried several colleagues. Just to prove the point. "Name 5 Indian tribes." Cherokee and Sioux always came first. Along with a smattering of Apaches, Navajos and Iroquois, plus the occasional wacky tribe that was from an area where someone grew up. But no one mentioned the Lakota. So it's not just me, BHG: NO ONE KNOWS THE LAKOTA EXCEPT YOU AND KEVIN COSTNER! So here's my advice: Change the Lakota name to Sioux. Your product will resonate better with customers. Better resonation = better sales. Well, ... maybe. Besides, the Lakota were really part of the Sioux Nation, so you can console yourselves with that. UPDATE: Okay, when considering this, perhaps the Sioux name isn't the best idea. So why not use the Cherokee? They're actually more populous than the Sioux. UPDATE II: Don't get me wrong. WE are the ones who are ignorant in Indian history. However, you can take one of two positions. You can pander to the popular wisdom, or you can educate the masses. My position is that pandering gets you more sales. More sales = more players, and (to be selfish) more players = more readers. ;-) If we were to use the prevailing logic, you'd might rightly complain about the French. They were originally the "Gauls." Or better yet, you'd pick an equivalent Gallic tribe, like the "Averni." No one's heard of the Averni, either. UPDATE III: ROFL. Chances are, you have probably never heard of the Native American tribe, the Haudenosaunee, nor of their favorite game, called -- in their language, Ga-lahs. You might know the game better by its French term -- lacrosse -- and the people better by the great confederacy of which they were an honored member, the Iroquois. Actually, the name "Iroquois" is also a French title; a derivation of the Algonquin insult of "Irinakhoiw," to which the French "ois" was added. You can hardly blame the French for having trouble pronouncing "Haudenosaunee" though, can you? On the other hand, this derisive term could explain why the Iroquois were stubbornly hostile to the French for decades.I can be pretty dense sometimes. So explain to me again why we're using the Iroquois name and NOT the Sioux name? T&P Update: The Indian Juggernaut
I have not figured out why yet, but the computer keeps ROLLING me when it plays India. (This is on the toughest AI setting, and I am purposely NOT rushing, so as to give it a chance to build up.) So, I am going to take a deeper look at India. I think it mostly has to do with the non-ramping cost of buildings. We'll see.
UPDATE AFTER LOSING 5 IN A ROW: Maybe I just suck. I get my head handed to me whenever I try to play Indians. Maybe I have bad karma. Thursday, February 19, 2004 For your consideration
A report entitled Scientific Integrity in Policymaking: An Investigation into the Bush Administration’s Misuse of Science has been released by the Union of Concerned Scientists. FINDINGS OF THE INVESTIGATIONIt's an astonishing document. If you are concerned for the integrity of scientific research, then I suggest you take a gander. Better yet, print it out and visit the "reading room." My solution to a big problem
I have a simple idea to solve all of this.
Why don't we just call homosexual people "heterosexual." We can call one of the partners "male" and one of them "female." Then there won't be any impediment to them both calling themselves "married." Okay, so I'm joking. Sort of. At its heart, this is really a semantic argument. Most people aren't offended by "civil unions" for homosexuals, wherein the couple obtains legal benefits equivalent to those that married couples receive. Some states have this, but most don't; however, we could get there pretty quickly. There's no real justification for not extending legal marriage benefits to civil unions. So it's only partially an issue of legal oppression. I'd argue it's really a form of linguistic oppression. Homosexuals are rightly disgruntled at not being able to say, "This is my spouse," or, "We're married." Why should they have to use inferior terms to describe their relationship, regardless of legal status? But let's look at the other side of the equation. For most people (and yes, despite the hoopla, I firmly believe this is what most people believe, based on polls AND actual votes), marriage has a sanctity that is special -- and well-defined. They prefer that the word keep it's traditional definition: union between a man and a woman. They're not really concerned about "legal" rights as much as they don't want to besmirch the word and change the definition. Otherwise they'll have to start saying, "This is my traditional spouse," and, "Yes, we're really married." So, if we assume that homosexuals obtain the right to be called "married," what will the heterosexuals want to be called instead? And while we're on the subject, we might as well start now with this: females rallying to be called "husbands" because the term "wife" is linguistically oppressive. Tuesday, February 17, 2004 I'm not so stupid after all...
I felt pretty dumb after EC asked if Lakota could make use of captured farms. They can't build them, but can they farm ones they capture. My response was that it hadn't occurred to me at all. "I'm so ashamed." Here's why.
When you capture an enemy city their farms disappear! Well no wonder I never tried farming before. The granary is a different story. When you capture an enemy city, the granary remains; you can research the food tech but it does NOT increase the +5. It probably helps with fishing, but I didn't test it. This farm disappearing bit can have a pretty big military impact. Now you can raid by taking cities. Even if it is suicide and you cannot hold it, he loses all his farms which could put a pretty big damper on an economy, even if he fends you off. Can't really tell from SP whether those farms COMPLETELY disappear or just don't show up for the Lakota player. More research is needed. Where I will be spending my summer vacation...
Big Huge Army - Top 10 list
Latest results 1 - AU_bird *80* (5097) Mongols.HOLY HORDE, BATMAN! 80!! Change in my assessment of the Americans
I previously laid out my ranking of the new nations. I had placed Persians ahead of Americans, merely because I had been unable, in a few tries, to beat the Toughest AI without rushing. (By rushing, you can beat MULTIPLE teamed Toughest AIs with just about any civ.)
However, I think I have "cracked the code" on the Americans, and I now move them ahead of the Persians on my favorite civ list. They gather knowledge incredibly fast and can maintain a very large barracks army. You may want to get the Colossus instead of the Hanging Gardens for that reason. With the advent of governments and the Republic (+50 to commerce) almost any civ can be an economic powerhouse. You can have a +200 econ by the 5:00 mark. Keeping it capped will be the hard part. Weakness of the Lakota
I've found a weakness in the Lakota: Water maps.
While I'd originally postulated they might be good for fishing. They are not ... sorta. Because Lakota do not get farms. They currently do not get a granary. So there is no way to upgrade the fishing fleet. Normally, getting a granary and the first upgrade (for +50% food) is critical to keeping food capped in a fishing boom. However, Lakota can't get that. Also, there seems to be no way to upgrade the +5 food per villager, either. (Note: I have plans to research this in more detail, but just haven't done it.) However, in practice, fishing is best in the early ages where it provides quick food and wealth. In normal games, I'll eventually transition to farms as the fishing fleet becomes vulnerable. It just requires too much micro (for me) to adequately defend fishing. So I rarely get to enjoy the full benefits of +30 fishing. Not being able to upgrade the Lakota fishing fleet hurts, but not so much that I don't want to play them. Secondly, on water maps with new continents, Lakota have the same restrictions other civs do. COM2 required to settle new continents and your first settle must be near the shore. On maps like West Indies or Warring States, their bonus becomes all but useless. It's no wonder they call it the Power of the Plains. They are still my favorite so far because of their unique style of play. UPDATE: Another "weakness" they have is that they cannot immediately build in the "neutral" territory surrounding a city that has been recently taken, but not assimilated. So this throws out the capture-the-capital-and-tower-it-up-before-reinforcements-arrive strategy. Evidently there are four different types of territory control: friendly, enemy, neutral, and contested. Contested being the uncolored territory surrounding a city being assimilated. Makes sense. But DARN! Sunday, February 15, 2004 My favorite x-pack civs so far...
So I've been sparring mostly with the computer. Unfortunately, not very many real players have the beta (except the MOFOs) and so getting an actual game going will probably take some time. So here are my rankings after playing each civ a few times versus toughest and tougher (when I couldn't take them toughtest one) AI
1. Lakota. Against the computer, Lakota roxor dood. Toughest AI can't handle any serious border grabbing, with which the Lakota just rule. That and their free-wheeling raider style makes them tough to deal with. Easy to beat toughest. However, a human opponent might be more difficult: 1) He'll be better at raiding. 2) He'll know you're going to forward build a and take you out with some HI. 2. Persians. I don't like the ellies, but the extra food, cheaper civic and automatic caravans make them easy to keep going. I love the auro-caravans. If there is one I thing I always seem to forget, it is making caravans. Persians will be difficult to hurt by raiding, if played correctly. Can beat toughest, but it's hard. 3. Americans. They are definitely rush-capable civ, since you earn resources while you are building up. However, they are also great knowledge boomers with the free scholars and the instant wonder (Hanging Gardens). So they are a great versatile civ, similar to Japanese, but stronger on the booming side and slower on the rush. Have not beat toguhest yet. 4. Indians, & Iroquois don't get me as excited. I have not played them as much, but when I did I was not overwhelmed. It will take some time to make use of the Iroquois bonuses, and the government bonus has not been implemented in beta yet. Computer seems to cruise when playing Indians, so maybe I just suck. 5. Dutch. The Dutch probably require a completely different build path from what I have been using, but the bonuses sound better than they are actually worth. At least to me. So far... Free merchants are worthless until you scout some rares. Cheaper commerce is nice but not killer. Armed merchants is kind of goofy. Just makes you "slightly" more difficult to raid. In a boom fest, that doesn't help. And in a real battle it doesn't help, either. The "interest on deposits" bonus is only for people who don't know to spend their money. The dock bonus means I have to research MIL1 before docking on a water map, else I don't get my ships. I've gotten owned by toughest every time I've tried them. Throne & Patriots Expansion Pack Campaigns
I have focused primarily on the multiplayer strategy aspects of the new expansion. That's because I only play multiplayer. (Note: I do use the quick battle feature to test and refine strats.) However, a HUGE MAJORITY of the people who play computer games NEVER play on-line. They only play the single player campaigns. RON took some flak for only having one single-player campaign. However, in the expansion, they have FIVE. Huge difference. So single-player fans should rejoice. Lots of cool stuff for them. And a few things for the multiplayer fans to give them an incentive to upgrade.
And who won't? I mean, if you are still playing RON now, then you must be pretty hard-core. And if you are reading THIS, then you are REALLY HARD-CORE. (You could even say "elite.") Suggests I am preaching to the choir. Going out and buying T&P should be au-to-ma-tic for you. Very cool intro movie: Onimusha 3
Saturday, February 14, 2004 RON: T&P -- Updating the exisiting civs
Here's my assessment of what they have done to the existing civs:
Aztecs: early game boost, mid/late game nerf British: boost Chinese: tiny nerf Japanese: small boost Mayans: nerf on all bonuses Romans: small boost Russians: decent boost Spanish: tiny nerf Given the tiny nerf on Spain, I think they have more work to do. In the hands of an expert, Spain was the equal of Maya, and would dominate any other civ. They haven't done much to reduce it (yet). Friday, February 13, 2004 First Impressions on the New Wonders
Hanging Gardens: AWESOME! It boosts knowledge
Forbidden City: An extra (buff) city. Basically, an expensive city, but it pays for itself rather quickly (3 min); other than that ... big deal? Red Fort: A buff fort. Another "big deal?" More on Governments
Yea, after playing around with it some, I definitely preferred the "old" stats. The special units provided seem particularly unimpressive, basically a beefed up general/spy or general/supply wagon combo. Nice thing, though, is it's free and does not require a castle. If killed, it gets replaced after a suitable time delay.
Once you research a government, you are stuck with it, no changing it until you reach the next "level." Then you choose between the next level military or economic one. However, you RETAIN your previous government powers. This means choices are permanent, and you can tailor your civ throughout the game to fit your preferences: Level - Choices II - Despotism and Republic IV - Monarchy and Democracy VI - Socialism and Capitalism You research these in order, in Classical: D or S, in Gunpoweder: M or D, in Industrial: S or C; so, during the course of the game, you really have 8 potential approaches: D-M-S R-M-SThere is problem with this in its current form which leads me to immediately see an optimal path (at least for me). The problem is that some of the benefits are temporary, and some of them are long-lasting. Some are good and some are pretty much worthless. I suppose it all comes down to your strategy; however , for example, I'd much rather have a permanent reduction in military unit costs than a "temporary" reduction in non-library research costs. It's temporary because I will eventually run out of things to research. RON: T&P UPDATE - The Americans
Never mind the Lakota, check out the Americans. MS has recently updated the info. [Americans] also have the additional power of receiving +3 Food, Timber, Metal, and Wealth for every non-Scout Barracks unit.Holy Cow! That means every barracks unit brings in more resources than a normal villager! You can boom AND attack! That could be EVIL. UPDATE: Nevermind. It ain't +3. We're not allowed to discuss detailed stats, so I shouldn't say what it really is (since it hasn't been released). But while we're on the subject of Americans, I can safely say the Wonder the Americans will use their bonus on is NOT the Collossus. It's the Hanging Gardens. This wonder is the first (and only) thing you can build that actually increases knowledge gathered. With this bonus, plus the extra scholar per uni, Americans might even be faster boomers than the Greeks. But the Americans ALSO have the barracks troop bonus resource thingy going on. RON: T&P - Governments
WOW.
Governments look like they could completely revolutionize RON. Never mind RON, how about ALL future RTS games? Government gives your nation military and non-military bonuses. To establish a government, you must first build a Senate and have the appropriate technology researched. Each government type also allows you to create a Patriot, a unique leader who can enhance your nation’s military or economic power. You can build a Senate after your nation advances to the Classical Age. It must be constructed within the City Limits.Imagine being able to take that crappy rushing civ and making it into an economic powehouse with Capitalism? Or tricking your opponents with an economic civ and then hitting them hard with an early attack because you went with Despotism. BHG just added a WHOLE NEW DIMENSION to the game with governments. This is pretty neat. Looks like being the CIV2 lead has finally paid some dividends (just kidding Brian). One more thing I have to play around with now. I'll report back once I have a better idea how these work. UPDATE: Never mind that, Scot_free points out that MS has updated their site with more (or less) detail. Choose:Is it just me, or were the "old" benefits more interesting? I think I'd rather have a Socialism where Russia could get even MORE border pushing. C'mon, don't tone them down, boost them up! If the impact of government is lukewarm, then it won't have much of an impact on the game. Make them be REAL choices with REAL tradeoffs. Maybe like make Despotism = -25 Commerce cap, +10% research cost, and -25% military unit costs and upgrade costs. Where Democracy = +100 Commerce Cap, +100% military unit cost or something like that. Then have the first government be relatively cheap (so you choose one) and every change (they do allow changes, right?) ramp up very quickly and expensively. A strategy game should have STRATEGIC CHOICES that must be made. RON:T&P Update - The Lakota
Of all the new nations and features in the game, the Lakota tribe intrigues me the most. They have the unique ability to build buildings outside their borders, but not in enemy territory. This could be Huge. One of the unique (and limiting) factors in RON is the concept of borders, whereby you cannot build anything outside them. The introduction of the Lakota blows that concept out of the water. You can build all military buildings (e.g., docks, stables, towers), cities, and resource locations (e.g., mines and lumber camps) anywhere not controlled by the enemy. This enables a player to play the game simialr to AOK. Cities, resource spots, and military buildings can go almost anywhere. And this will likely reward very aggressive players the most -- Forward Building is back! The drawback is that military buildings placed forward, without the support of a city, will eventually get ungulfed by enemy border pressure and could be vulnerable to attrition, or even bribery. The question is, are the Lakota strong enough as a nation (tribe) to take advantage of their new found freedom. We shall see.
First of all, there are some limitations. You can only build buildings outside your territory that do not have city limit restrictions. For example, the university must be built within city limits, so you can't just go off and build a bunch of universities in the corner. A second limitation is the economy. The Lakota don't make farms -- their citizen and stable units provide intrinsic food income. To compensate, they start off with fewer units. In fact, they currently start with only 2 villagers! Ouch!! So any early movement off to build will cause you to lose a big percentage of your income. Tied to that is the fact that each villager can only make +5 food. At first, your villagers will only be chopping wood, so you will exceed the wood cap well before you reach the food cap. It takes 20 villagers to make 100 food. So your extra villagers end up being idle, or off scouting. Scouting with villagers takes some extra micro, so you'll need to focus extra effort to make sure you maximize that scouting role and don't have too many idle villagers. By themselves, the Lokota don't seem all that dangerous, since even if they rush over to cramp you with their #2 city, the villagers are slow enough that an opponent can place a good #2 before you get yours started. So don't expect to be building right on top of their capital. However, pair a Lokota with a Mayan, Russian or a Bantu and you can expect to see some pretty dominating territory tactics. Territory expansion is limited by having to build WITHIN the existing border. But if you could build outside the border, your city border influence doesn't overlap. One theoretical strategy is to have the Lokata buidl far forward and have the Russian/Mayan/Bantu ally build in the Lakota territory, effectively getting the same bonus. The Lakota could then raze (if needed) and build elsewhere, setting up another great spot for the ally's #3 city. Imagine those as Russian cities! Ouch! UPDATE: yhano points out that they might be good candidates for fishing. I agree, they'd probably be perfect for a fishing boom, since all their early vills are going on wood. Meanwhile HalfLotus thinks that the forward building cities will create long trade routes vulnerable to raiding. UPDATE II: El_Capitan posted his vision of a hypothetical Lakota rush. The Lakota will be tough to stop if they ever succeed in a Kamikaze rush. Imagine... once they sack your Capital, they can have any Citizens brought with them to build a Tower and another Barracks because once you take the City, the area becomes neutral until taken back or assimilated. However, a good strategy would be to go to the middle of the map with a few Citizens and build the 1st Barracks there. After the Barracks is made, the Citizens continue to the outside border of the enemy's Capital. By then, you should have 5 HI. Raze the Barracks when your units are out and start your attack. Once your Barracks is razed, you build another one right outside the enemy Capital's border to make your 3 LI. Once you take the Capital, you get your bonus resources. Continue streaming in LI and FA from your new Barracks. Your Citizens should be at the taken Capital by now to make a few Towers and repair the Capital. Game over.Indeed. I've been thinking about how the tower and barracks building in neutral territory makes them a cinch to take and hold someone's capital. Sounds nasty. UPDATE III: I imagine Lakota would be pretty strong on Nomad, since they'd be collecting food while building that first city. Also, if they got the normal 3 villagers, they wouldn't start off behind other civs like they do with small town. Regarding the funky economy: Normally, to reach +100, you would need to have 2 cities + 8 choppers and 8 farmers. Lakota can do it with 2 cities + 8 choppers + 8 vills standing around. Or instead of standing around, they could be scouting for ruins, building stuff, and later mining metal. Basically, Lakota just saved the wood for EIGHT FARMS! To compensate, you start slower -- only 2 vills instead of 5. We'll have to see whether the granary allows them to upgrade that +5 in proportion to other resource production boosters. Throne & Patriots Expansion (beta)
Graham was kind enough to include us in the list of beta recipients for the upcoming RON expansion: Throne & Patriots. The cool thing is it's a media preview, so as Graham said: This beta is not covered by a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) so you can talk about it in forums, on your websites, and take screenshots. Remember though, that this is beta software, so nothing is set in stone. We'd ask that you don't give out specific stats, such as unit attack strength or nation powers, as they have likely already changed.So there you have it. I'll leave all the PR stuff to the big media outlets and instead focus on balancing and strategy issues. More later as I get to play it. Thursday, February 12, 2004 Cool new product
No, it's not the Love Detector, although that's pretty cool, too.
Scroll down the page to see the announcement for truth verification eyeglasses. Soon V Entertainment will be introducing a new product that will be a personal truth verification software. Finally a lie detector for everyone!For the man who has everything...but the truth. Unit Counter Chart
Big Huge Army - Top 10 list
Latest results 1 - Stiff *75* (5112) Mongols.Yuck. Looks like Mongols will win. Well at least I have the highest (tied with ReadyMan) non-Mongol score. So why are Mongols now considered to be weaker? I still think they are a very effective civ. Another great spy tip
biodegradeablefi(sh) aka AU_Humble posted another excellent spy tip. OK. How many times in multiplayer have you converted units and lost your spies as they are seen after the conversion, or clicked on a bunch of units but miss the last one and click the ground cancelling all previous orders. Wednesday, February 11, 2004 Hard luck story in the rated room
Anrjo gets royally screwed in the Rated Room. Well just when you think you've seen everything you get hit with something new.Yup. They definitely need MORE flexibility in how matches are decided. I should be able to do loose matching but EXCLUDE deathmatch type games. BHG could EASILY implement the same filters that ALREADY EXIST in Gamespy to do criteria matching. These filters could be used to exclude the chance of me getting into games with certain settings (e.g., Deathmatch West Indies). C'mon guys :-) New BHG/MFO tournament
This one sounds pretty cool: you must choose a RANDOM OFFENSIVE NATION! They are giving away big cash prizes, too. Go sign up! It's 1v1 arena-sized secret random land map.
UPDATE: BTW, Graham@BHG says that the "offensive" nations are: JAPANESEPersonally, I am amused that Germans show up as an Offensive Nation instead of an Economic one. They are almost as good as the British, and I've never gotten them as Offensive, although I don't play Offensive that much. Awesome post on various UU strengths
Over at MFO, El_Capitan posts a run down of UUs by nation through the ages. A small sample: Heavy Infantry- The best Heavy Infantry until Gunpowder Age is the Roman Heavy Infantry. They take out other Heavy Infantry as well as Cavalry. The Spanish have the best Heavy Infantry vs.Cavalry, especially starting in Gunpowder Age when they have ranged attacks. The Japanese have the best Heavy Infantry for taking out buildings and the German Heavy Infantry is about the same as the Japanese, but they don't get the Japanese bonus for taking down buildings faster. In Enlightenment Age, the Japanese have the best, and in Modern and Enlightenment, it goes back to the Maya.Go read the whole thing. Meet the Prez
ROFL.
One of the commenters at Calpundit posted a link to a clip from the Daily Show giving a funny send up of the President's interview with Tim Russert on Meet the Press. Saturday, February 07, 2004 A devious technique posted by El_Capitan
I've never seen ANYONE practice this technique in a game, but it sounds pretty devious. If you have a General with say... 2 spies against an enemy army of 6 without any Scouts, then the best way to bribe units without them being harmed is to bring your General with your Spies. Before you start bribing, have your General use the 'Ambush' ability. Once you've successfully bribed your units, they will be temporarily invisible within the General's radius. As long as they're not attacking anything, the enemy units will not see them, along with your Spies (if you're not Russian). Thursday, February 05, 2004 Tips for playing with infinite resources
Over at RON Universe, Cowboy has posted some tips for playing infinite resource games. I've been trying out different modes to play the game and I've gotta liking now to infinite res games. I thought I'd compile a list of tips for this style of gameplay, feel free to add more:Personally, I've shied away from infinite resource games; I figure what's the point? But, that's a reactionary view. Infinite resources is just yet another game setting. It still requires some strategy and technique. Since, I am not an expert on infinite resource games, I'll use Cowboy's advice (and the other advice in the thread) as a good starting point. Maybe I'll play that setting some day. Maybe. Wednesday, February 04, 2004 ELECTION UPDATE
Kerry won all but two of the contests yesterday and now has huge lead in the delegate count as reported by CNN. However, Edwards has started to come on strong as a contender. While Edwards has publicly rejected thoughts of a VP role (of course, he has to for his campaign's sake), he is well-positioned for the role. He'd be a huge asset for Kerry in the southern states and the younger crowd. Clark is still hanging around after barely edging out Edwards in OK. However with the comments his son made and his poor showing elsewhere, I can't see him hanging in there and doing well. Meanwhile, Dean has almost comletely self-destructed. |
