Grand_Admiral_Thrawn

Is it just me or does the Emperor have a sort of cartoonie/anime size about him? He seems to be rather bulky in his robes. Another thing: why is it that Palpy (in the form of the Emperor, wrinkles and all), looks different than Sidious? For example, the "Emperor" talking to Anakin about the Jedi being enemies of the Republic and the "Emperor" fighting Yoda in the Senate chamber don't look the same. There is a maniacle look to the latter, almost to the level of that Twi'lek Dark Jedi in Jedi Knight (Brosk or something).

I quite agree with you, and I was aware of the evolution of the rank of Commodore and the American Rear-Admiral, lower half, but I would suggest another possibility. In the early 19th century, and indeed right up until the British Navy did a little restructureing, Commodore was a title given to Captains in command of a small squadron (usually four or five ships, but on the scale of the Star Wars Universe, this would clearly need to be increased). These commands were usually temporary, lasting on a short while (which back then could concievably be a year and a half). If we look to Rebellion (the game that is), we see that, although his rank insignia matches all of the other Commander ranked characters, Zuggs is listed as a Commodore in his encyclopedia text. What I suggest is this: Star Wars had a great deal of British influence in the production of the first movie, and as I'm sure every one here could agree on, your best "Imperial Officer" impression is nothing but a shoddy British accent (unless, of course, you are British ). Perhaps there is some of this influence in the structure of the Imperial Navy (and perhaps the Army as well). To this day there is only four "Flag" ranks in the British navy, with Rear Admiral being the lowest and Fleet Admiral the highest (though there are the ranks of First and Second Sea Lord, but I would equate those with the Star Wars positions of High Admiral and Grand Admiral). Perhaps what we see is a mergring of North American and Brittanic ranking systems? As I think I stated in an earlier post, the existance of Moffs and Grand Moffs is remeniscant of military leaders being given Governorships over naval ports or forts and the surrounding areas. I suggest this also because of this picture in which we see Motti with two rows of rank insignia (which also gives credence to the theory of the change in insignia due to the senate being disolved), which would suggest (I believe) that he is an admiral, though do to a slight glare we can't see what the colour of the lower row is, though the top appears to be red. I must also admit that the inclusion of the rank of Commodore would make sence because of the scale of the universe. With such a large fleet an expansion of the command structure would make perfect sence, hence the inclusion of ranks such as High Admiral and Grand Admiral.

I have the DVD that came in the las PC Gamer I got, but I left it at work (where I ready my PC Gamers to cut the boredom), so I'll have to wait until tonight to try it.

Well, if Lucas dies before episode VII-IX are made, we'll have a good chance of seeing the current EU turned into canon since Lucas is primarily responsible for any contradictions. I also think we'd have a good chance of seeing some one like Spielburg(sp?) directing any SW movies after GL becomes one with the Force, seeing how close they are (in the directorial sence). All-in-all, I don't think that would be a bad thing.

Actually, this theory makes perfect sence, and now that you have pointed it out, it's attractive in many ways. Because of the way in which the Republic was organized, Vader couldn't hold a position such as that which we see him in in ESP and RotJ. The liquidations of the senate left a power gap to be filled by Moffs, Grand Moffs, Grand Admirals and Vader. They had diract controle over their forces, but answered directly to the Emperor. Your theory could also be furhter supported by Tarkin's appearance. We don't see him until the secene in the Death Star's conference room, and he is the only officer in all of ANH to be wearing what I shal refer to as a post-Republic rank insignia, perhaps a show of support for the new structure to be found in the Empire. Your mention of the chaotic rank insignias for the ANH Imperial officers can be seen in the Rebel rank insignias, which I don't think any one can make sence of simply by watching the movies. Your observations on the change on the Imperial strategem chance is something I hadn't noticed before. In ANH we see only two Star Destroyers protecting Tatooine, a planet suspected to have the plans for the "Ultimate Weapon" on it. In ESB we see a massive fleet deployed to take in one Jedi, who isn't even trained, something Vader in a single ship could probably have done. Again in RotJ we see a sligh reversion to the "bigger is better" theorum, but it is backed up by this new taste for large fleets with emense fire-power. I think this is an excellent explaination for the discrepancies in the rank insignias, and we may get a definitive answer with RotS. Just a little side note, I think Motti was an Admiral, not a Commodore (since Commodore isn't realy a rank, and according to most of the CCGs).

I think that would be a good assumption, but then we'd have to sort out the conflicts within the EU. Maybe he'll write a book or at least a screenplay... or, maybe when he's dead, one of his kids will create a movie based on an un-finished scrips.

I don't think they were actually X-Wings, but another design, the precurser to the X-Wing. I have also heard rumor that Chewie is in this movie... perhaps there is some secret plot about his running into Luke later on, something the Jedi Council saw?

Downloading the AVI as I type. With any luck it will work... especially with its 51mb size. I'm wasting a hole minute of my life waiting for it to finish! EDIT:Sweet mother of God, that is a fantastic trailer! All the lightsabers, and lasers... my keyboard is so wet from drool I think I'll have to get a new one! EDIT II:Does any one know who/what that is in the image Ive posted below? From the descriptions of Grievous I've read it doesn't appear to be him, but I could be wrong. There are two scenes in there with this person, the one shown below, and one from the back. Any ideas? P.S: Sorry for the size, I think it will show a little large. http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0VAAqAxsZiicQU!ZVZvlw5SdQIw*rqtXuVgXgdc6tRxZ8SQi77l5G5aatpcD2Z2SGq0dvKrk90WLsxe3pCFEAvW5M3TFzdJFOmRVsDveM5EScFwVkzRC9j8ztrxBkpO1v/trailer%20002_0001.jpg

I didn't see the trailer here (I regularly watch the O.C. (I'm a very emotional Grand Admiral)), but that may be a byproduct of having it transmitted via a Canadian channel, so most of the American commercials aren't there... I watched the trailer when it came out and was very impressed. I have a feeling GL was aware of your mythic connection to the word Sith since he relies heavily on such themes when developing his characters. In some cultures, man types of mystical creatures (including faeries) were something to fear... though I do have visions of Darth Maul in a white dress waving a double-sided want .

Go here and look for the Java 2 Platform Standard Edition. Sun Microsystems makes it.

I had thought that there was some sort of update regarding system performance, but as I said, I could be wrong. Hopefully with this new wave of systems the companies won't be so obsessed with getting theirs out first, but more focussed on making a quality system... but then, since when has making quality products been good business?

I think you have to have Java installed to us it, though I have yet to discover how to change my name...

While it's nice to see the console market advancing rather than stagnating for five or so years before a jump, I'm wary of buying any such systems. If you rush out and buy the system as soon as it hits the shelf, you're liable to get a buggy piece of crap (many of the first X-Boxes were recalled if I'm not mistaken, and the first few batches of the PS2 were prone to overheating). Some one told me that there were even some hardware changes between the early PS2s and the later ones, with increased performance and graphics ability, though I haven't heard anything to support that. I'd go out and buy the "X-Box 2", but how long will it be until Microsoft comes out with something to top the PS3 and so on. What we need is a consol system that can be upgraded in every way (the original X-Box is the closest thing we've seen with additional modem and hard drives) so that instead of sending consumers out every year-and-a-half to get a new system, they can go out and upgrade their X-Box processor, video card or ram, or whatever else you want, making it more of an afordible PC. This would be especially attractive to consumers like me who want to play some of the games that are only for the consol systems, but aren't willing to shell out $600 for something that, in the long run, is disposable. If you're looking for info on consol developement, MegaGames.com is a surprisingly informative site. They tend to pick-up alot of the info that falls through the cracks.

Good to know. I don't think Force Condom would help there... You're definitely artistically gifted SM! This community has alot of talent in that regard, what with you, LLF,, Jahled, Trej, Mask and others... especially SOCL, who's Thrawn-in-a-bottle now graces my desktop .

Very nice! Might I make one suggestion though, the first card in your last post... you might want to re-position the smaller lightsaber, or make it's connecting apperatus a little more visable, as at first glance the image seems a little obscene .

SM, you said that hte engine is showing its age. Are they still using the same one for BF 2? From the screen shots I'd say it looks like they've given it a huge face-lift. I loved BF 1942, perhaps more for the genre than for the game play, though there were some seriouse problems with weapon accuracy, especially with the sniper rifles (couldn't seem to hit anything half the time). Bf Vietnam was a total waste of money, so if BF 2 is goingto be a clone of that, no thanks. I don't have to many games where the company has to release a patch that's over 100 mb... but then, releasing any patch is a hard thing for EA to do. I'll wait and see what kind of feedback I hear about it before I get it, if at all. I don't mind the arcade style gaming of the BF series, I think it makes it a little more multiplayer friendly, but I think the game needs to add something, and make the factions more diversified, which hasn't really been done in the FPS games out there (save for Call of Duty that, by giving the allies all their best weapons, and sticking the germans with the Kar. 98, managed to really diversify ). I have a fealing EA might actually pull it off with this one, but CoD 2 will be out a little while after, so they might have a fight ahead of them.

I think it was better in that the only character (other than Carth) that gets rehashed is Revan, if you exclude the droids. The gameplay isn't different really. I like the new Force powers, as well as the fact that you have to actually build a lightsaber from components this time. As I have yet to finish it, I'll leave it at that.

Good heavens, I go away for a nice little vacation and looks what happens! As of last friday (the 25) around noon I've been traveling around Ottawa, seeing the sights of my nation's capitol city and relaxing. During this time my home (and subsequently my computer) were left in the care of a friend (who shal remain nameless incase I decide to kill him ). It seems that, in addition to eating a good amount of food, dirtying almost all of my dishes, loading an inordinate number of programs onto my computer, downloading nearly 100mb of useless (and very likely virus infested), he also took it upon himself to utilize any accounts I have on my computer (including City of Heroes and Lineage II, in which I'll have to reconsile his actions with my Clans/Guilds), thinking that this would be amusing. He has since discovered that no one is laughing (especially not me). I was rather fortunate here, his actions were pretty tame, and there was little mud-slinging (several of my clan members in CoH were harrased and abused). Never the less, my password has been changed (by me) and I have started logging out when I leavethe stire (I was always logged in previousely, allowing any user on my computer to access my account). However, I'll not let this stop a little debate from happening, though it might not be as exciting since I'm inclined to agree with much of what Igor said. So: I agree that money is somewhat useless since you only need to complete a few of the minor quests to earn upwards of 30 thousand gold pieces. With that, it's simply a matter of sailing around and upgrading your ships. However, you need to find the right ports to get what you're looking for, a taks that is made somewhat easier if you've advnaced a little and have gained information. The dueling is a joke too. I don't believe I've ever used more than the luge attack and perhaps the odd parry in combat, and the items you can collect that improve your swordmanship only widen the gap between you and your opponent. It does get a little harder as you move on, but not enough to really impede your progress. I would have also liked to see fleet battles, but I'm not especially discouraged by the ability to use only one ship in combat. The AI is inept when if comes to commanding more than one ship, attacking with only one at a time, making your job easy. If you can pummel them and reduce their number of guns, then rake them with grape shot, they'll usually surrender without having to duel. I didn't really get to experience the factions system as I stayed loyal to Britain, only attacking the Spanish and French, and staying as far on the good side of the Dutch as I could. I did find it odd that, despite having raided hundreds of Spanish ships, I was still getting promoted by their governors. I wasn't too bothered by the time it took to sail around, I found it gave me lots of time to take prizes and explore. It was annoying chasing the "Evil Baron Ramondo", but occasionally he stayed put. All in all, this game was enjoyable, and still addictive, despite it's faults. PC Gamer gave it a good rating, as did a TV sho Electric Playground. I would have liked to have some real voices in the game, not the Sim-like mumbling. Ground combat took alot away from the game. I think allowing the player to bombard the shore with their ship, then storm the port in an RTS style would have been more satisfying. I'll keep playing, but if I'm looking for a strategy game, I'll stick with Hearts of Iron II.

I see you've been reading the Pirate-O'pedia. However, not every Treasure Galleaon has 40 guns. As a matter of fact, most of them are luckey to have 20. I played my career through (39 "years") without seeing a ship of the line, with the largest ships other than my own (by way of guns) being a 38 gun Large Frigate. You make it sound as though you can leave port and sail right into a large ship with 40 guns, take her with you little sloop and have a cake walk from there on in. From my experience, not so. You didn't understand what I said. I was referring to being defeated after boarding. You will loose your ship and be downgraded to your starting sloop. But there is a down side. You have to spend all of your time getting on the good side of one faction just to get that far. After all that time, where are you left in the way of the actual aim of the game, the rescue of your family? Unless you're fortunate enough to find some of the special items that prolong your life, you're forced to retire after 39 years. Well, since the point of the game isn't to get all of the artifacts, you'd have been wasting your time doing so, but I guess the idea of a plot has escaped you in this case. Well, this again overlooks a point which you haven't mentioned in your reply: Difficulty Level. As you divide the plunder, you get the option to increase the game's difficulty. I think you'd be hard pressed to take one treasure galleon on Swashbuckler, let alone multiple ships. Erm, you're a pirate. How many Pirates haf fleets? Your objective is to capture ships, take what you need/want, sell the rest and make money, and increase your fame. You're not Horatio Nelson, lol. Yes, the taunt is useless as far as I can tell, unless you like to get hit. On the first two difficulty levels (there are fice) this is easy, but I had all of my dueling artifacts and was unable to beat any captains in the top two difficulty levels. I had to beat my opponents into submission. Duels are fun at first, but they're really a joke.. and once you get your own upgraded weapons they don't really have a chance (or at worst they are equal to you in items). All you gotta do is hit the attack button at the right time (like thrust when he's doing a chop and then slash the off-balance guy.. pretty soon the guy gets pushed off into the water). With the exception of parrying, the other 2 moves I rarely used and still managed to easily take on people. When you are a certain distance from shore your ships speed increases. Sail in the open waters to get your time acceleration. Also, most other strategy games don't have you playing a character who ages. So, if you want to end your game faster, I guess time acceleration is one way to do that. Yet according to that same site the gamer scores give Pirates! a higher rating than the press. Odd... I'll also direct your attention to the bracketed "so far, that is", indicating that that I was not yet finished (I had only read two revies, so my claimes are true). I would also like to point out that only two of the listed reviews game less than an 80% rating. Actually, as of the time I wrote that post I had yet to engage in ground combat. Now that I have, I agree that they are not what they could (and should) have been, but then, ground battle is not the focus of the game is. If you want ground battles, I suggest you stick to Rome: Total War, as it seems simplicity of a different style is more to your liking.

Well, I'll admit that the graphics in Priates! are on the cartoonie side, but it doesn't have a negative effect on game play.

Most powerful ships from the start, eh? Well, good luck finding one. The alrgest ship I've seen so far is a 40 gun heavy frigate, which I was hard pressed to take with my 24 gun brig. On top of that, there is also the matter of ship upgrades. A ship with cotton sails can move faster, copper plating gives increased maneuverability, brass cannons improbe accuracy, and tipple hammocks increase the size of your crew. Not only that, but specialized crew members such as a gunner can increase your rate of fire and accuracy, while a carpender can repare you ship's hull while you're sailing. On top of that, the most powerful ships don't spawn unless you're doing a mission, and the only person with a 40 gun heavy frigate is Captain Morgan. Maybe if you want a little challenge, stop playing as a journeyman captain, start taking ships, get promoted, and move up in difficulty rather than complaining about a game you've barely played. How do I know you've barely played it? Because you only played it for, as you said, 72 hours, a period of time in which I was barely able to scratch the surface! How can you "easily" become super rich? Your crew moral decreases the longer you go without dividing the plunder. Eventually they'll mutany and you'll be stuck with a wussy little sloop again with only eight guns. You have to divide the plunder, which on the third difficulty setting (where I am currently), you only get to keep 20% of your takings. And you can only get some of the artifact items from Governor's daughters. Well, there is a simple reason for this. The other ships that you take are called Prizes. You don't man them sufficiently to fight with them, they're only manned with a skeleton crew. So it wouldn't make sence to have more than one ship at your disposal in combat. Sure, you can switch Flagships, but that's simply you transfering enough men to one of your other ships to fight it. It makes perfect sence to any one whith knowledge of sea combat. There is actually a degree of realism here, not one of your mindless arcade games. Sure, you could board them and save time... that assuming you have the skill to take on the captains at the higher difficulty levels, where they have special attacks, improved weapons and so on. Not so simple. Hmm, screwed up? As it is right now I cannot take refuge in any Spanish port because I'm in too poor relations with them. I could attack a British port, but one little attack shouldn't result in a demotion. If you've made it to admiral you've proven that you're a valuable asset, and they want to keep you that way. I'm a British Duke, and I doubt they'll take that title away from me simply because I've attacked one of their ports, or taken one of their ships. Just like promotion, demotion is based on cumulative actions. Keep doing it and see what happens. Time acceleration? I though that's exactly what it was, unless you think it takes ten minutes to sail from North-Eastern South America to Florida. Look at the date in the bottom corner, it take around a month in game time. Instantaniouse travel would defeat the prupose of the factions, and take much of the fun out of the game. Your crew wouldn't demoralize, and you'd have fewer (if any) chances to take prizes. Clearly you're a victime of modern day impatience. Heaven forbid if you have to wait for something to happen! Perhaps the minute and a half at Mc Donalds is a tad too long too... Well, I suppose you can have your oppinion, as I do. But since every review I have read (so far, that is), has given it 5/5 or 10/10, I think the game speaks for itself. That, and it's clear you didn't really play the game to the extent it was meant to be.

I totaly agree kaja. I was always a fan of the Next Generation, and I'm sort of fond of the new Enterprise show... that's if I could just be fond enough of it to pull myself away from my computer. ST vs. SW is sort of pointless since one focuses on reality and the other science fiction (byreality, I mean what we know can realistically be done [or can hope to do]). Wow, a bracket within a bracket.

Maybe he wouldn't belong to a major faction. Somehow I can se him as a Corellian... they have golf and ranches on Corellia don't they?

Hmm, I sort of agree with you on that one Paul. But he'd spen all his time looking for Rebel weapons that don't exist, while gettin all of the unimportant planets to join his coalition in the Empire, while the planets who do count think he's an idiot. Then again, unless George Sr. is the Emperor, he'd be stuck as some backwater Stormtrooper...

Thrawn unhooks his sword, takes of his cocked hat, and sits down to type for a while. No, that wasn't me. I was never a big fan of the Armada games. It seemed like alot of ship building, then just one big attack at the end, with very little combat in the middle. Maybe it has evolved somewhat with mods?