Texas_Fett

Using Mask's new dlls script for RebEd (found on his site), it is simplicity itself to replace the event pictures in the game. A few pictures are missing (like the one for when the Alliance HQ arrives at its new destination, among others), but it's amazing how many of them you are actually able to toy with. That said, I'm having difficulty finding all of the replacement pictures for events in the game that I desire to change. So far, I have replaced the hanger pics for the Imperials and most of Luke's event pics. I have some good pictures for the following: * the 'foiled mission' picture for the Rebels (you Rebel scum!) & Imperials (No, wait! I've got an idea!) * the 'captured Rebel character' pic * the 'retire character' pic for the Imperials (just think, "You've failed me for the LAST...TIME, Admiral... ) * Leia's encounter with Vader * the injured character pic * the Rebel sabotage pic However, I'm having difficulty finding pictures for the following (I'm not even sure you can replace some of these pictures): * A 'captured Imperial' pic * A 'retire Rebel character' pic (I thought of using pictures of the deleted scene between Luke & Biggs for this one) * The '{blank} character has died' pictures for both sides In addition, I'm specifically trying to find a picture of Han Solo, just after he lures out the garrison at the Endor Bunker, where he shrugs his shoulders and appears to do his best "Fonzie" impression from "Happy Days". I have the one a few frames after this, the view from in front of the Imperial Squad as the Ewoks emerge, but not the one with Han. I've done Google & Yahoo! image searches, I've looked in the Massassi Temple site, Han Solo-specific sites...nuthin'. Any help or suggestions in finding these pics would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Great story, Trej! I've been "beta testing" my own variant, with a few unexpected and spurising results myself. I've got Valkir (he lost his password; I've been trying to get him to re-register) testing and providing feedback on the Imperial side, and the overall impression from both of us is similar to your own. The new models, cards, stats, etc. really do excite those of us who have become used to the old, original game. I'm interested to see your changes to the galaxy map. Did you change things around to look like the map Scathane posted a link to in some other thread? (the one from nav-computer.com?) BTW, according to the site history and your bio, you're in charge of the Rebellion Encyclopedia and FAQ's, right? I was thinking; the encyclopedia simply regurgitates the information that can be gotten in-game. Why not take the time to list things like the source material and more complete background for each character (if available), longer ship descriptions, etc.? I'd be willing to help if the idea's worth merit.

A chaplain? Ain't that a coincidence. So was my Dad! I know EXACTLY what you mean. For the longest time I considered my grandparents' house in Holland, Michigan (its near Grand Rapids) to be home. Then they sold it. Without telling anyone. Yet now South Texas is as close to 'home' as I'm ever going to get. I guess you could say living here 13 years and marrying a Texas girl has made me a 'naturalized' Texan. Yeah, but I get to plan the routes, as well as the 'secondary' routes for when we experience 'engine trouble'. I've got a buddy in the Air Force as a Nav right now who always seems to have 'engine trouble' in Greece, Cancun, the Azores, etc. He's often said that the flight path is determined by the quality of the bars and women along the way. Not that I'd do anything like that, though... After awhile you kinda get used to it. It starts to become a race to see if you can beat your best time. Also, when you unpack everything it's kinda like Christmas. You'll look at something and think, "Man, this is so cool! I've been wondering where that's been". Of course, it helps if you've been without your household belongings for two to three months. And that's if the movers didn't foul up your delivery. We once went six months without our household goods because someone lost our stuff at the docks in Houston.

Army, Navy and Marine Corps? In that order? Dang, that's a man I'd hate to mess with! And he rounded it out with the Air Force and Coast Guard doing liason work too, huh? And I thought it was tough just getting used to working with two branches of the service... No, my father was an officer in the Air Force. We were stationed at Holloman AFB, New Mexico, Spangdahlem AFB, Germany, Zaragoza AFB, Spain, Brooks AFB, San Antonio, Texas, and Cannon AFB, New Mexico. I didn't make the trip to Cannon, though (thankfully; it's not the end of the world, but you can see it from there ), since I'd graduated from High School, I'd been accepted to the local University already, and my Army Reserve unit was here in San Antonio. It's kinda weird though; I've grown up being used to moving every 2-3 years to a different state or country, yet I've now lived in San Antonio for 13 years now ( ). But my wife is an Air Force brat, too, so we compensate for that urge to pick up and move by rearranging the furniture in the house. So anyway, I finished my stint with the Army Reserves in 2000 (I got out as a Sergeant E-5), finally finished my degree, and am now attempting to get my commission in the Air Force as a Navigator. We'll see how that all goes, but I've had some glowing letters of recommendation from my former OIC's and NCOIC's, I scored pretty well on the AFOQT. The next board is in April, so we'll see!

Really? I have no idea how many more I have to go...nor do I know what the next rank even is...

Yes SIR, Admiral sir! {salute}

Ah. Pardon the confusion. Hey Chimera! Ditto what TK421 said!

A sure way to win every conflict. It sure makes for a short "Strategy" article though, doesn't it? Well, yeah, that's kinda implied by their very nature, right? I was referring to their application in the tactical interface rather than the strategic one. Or were you talking about one of the other responses?

I've posted elsewhere what my overall strategy (from a Rebel point of view) is. However, in the tactical game, I think there is an area that people often overlook. And that area is...{drum-roll, please}...the best deployment options for your capital ships based on their preferred firing arc. When you go into combat, most people simply use the default "Stand off" setting and watch as the two opposing forces line up across from each other like the battle formations of the 1700 & 1800's and wail away at each other. Now, this tactic works well, if you have enough ships and if you're the Empire. If you're the Rebellion, you are grossly mismanaging your fleet, as evidenced by individual ship captains that turn their craft so they can deliver a broadside. If you look at the statistics of each type of ship in your (Rebel) fleet, you will see that their strength lies in delivering broadside barrages (i.e., the largest Turbolaser/Ion ratings are for the Port/Starboard arcs; there are five Rebel craft with Turbolaser ratings >100 in their P/S arcs: Mon Cal, Assault Frigate, CC-9600, Dauntless, and Bulwark). Therefore, having them stand off actually works to the Empire's advantage, since the majority of their craft have their best Turbolaser/Ion ratings in the forward arc. The Rebels really only have two ships that flourish in the "Stand Off" tactic, those being the Nebulon-B and the Bulwark. Yet the only Imperial ship set up to promote broadsides is the Dreadnaught, and only three craft have Port/Starboard Turbolaser ratings above 100 (Vicstar1, ImpstarII, SSD). This doesn't mean that Alliance ships are incapable of fighting ships in their forward arcs, not does it mean that Imperial craft are inept if attacked from the Aft, Port or Starboard. It simply means that you should use good judgement when deploying your fleet. Use the "Surround" tactic if playing as the Rebels, and make use of the side maneuvers. Have your Bulwarks and Nebulon-B's take the frontal assault while your Assault Frigates, Dauntlesses, Mon Cal's, and CC-9600's attack from the sides. Similarly, Imperial craft excel at using the "Hammer" and "Anvil" maneuvers, being sure to keep enemy craft in their forward arcs and watching for flanking Rebel ships. I've noticed a definite difference in my fleet's performance when using similar tactics. Of course, the AI may foul everything up and you may end up with the classic "Stand Off" despite your best efforts. But the benefits, when it does work properly, are well worth the effort.

How does Teflon stick to the pan when nothing sticks to Teflon? Why is there an Interstate Highway in Hawaii? How long would it take to nail Jello to a wall? If a man expresses an opinion in a forest, and no woman is around to hear him, is he still wrong? How do you tell when sour cream goes bad? Why did kamikaze pilots wear helmets?

Yes, 5 delightful, wonderful, hours of...of...the precioussssss... Sadly enough, I have much of the dialogue of Clue memorized. That's what happens when you're a military brat living overseas and there's only one television channel in which you can understand the language; you tend to watch a LOT of movies. However, just to make sure I got the quote right, I did a quick Google search for Clue quotes and I got several sites. I did have to 'trim' it up a bit to make it fit within the signature character limits, but it's all good. Here's a couple of sites if you're interested in the movie: http://www.zoicite.com/clue/movie.html http://www.cluedofan.com/movie/movie.htm http://www.jonathanlynn.com/films/clue/clue.htm

{Looks at the camera} Well, now...we couldn't see THIS one coming, right folks? {signals for audience approval; cheers and jeers from the peanut gallery} Wait, Jerry...there's something else that needs to be said. Go right ahead, Mr. Vader. Well, now...don't get me wrong. I'm as sickened as the rest of you at all the 'Wookie-love' going on here, but... RACIST BIGOT! {cheers from the audience; Vader re-ignites lightsaber} WHOA! Hey! Hold on! Give him his say! ...erm, yes, as I was saying, the whole 'kiss' thing jogged my memory. Well see, the thing is...Luke...I am your father. Audible gasp from the audience No...no, that's not true! That's IMPOSSIBLE!! Search your feelings...you know it to be true. Aw, a touching moment between a father and his long-lost son... Wait, but that means... That's right folks! It appears that our Jedi Knight/Scoundrel/Princess/Wookie love triangle (or is that square?) has taken on an INCESTUOUS twist! EWWWWWW!! Wait! No! It's not like that at all! {Boos from the audience} So you dispute it, Princess? What about THIS! {Holds up three photographs} Pictures of you kissing Luke on the Death Star...at Echo Base...and on Jabba's Sail Barge! I was young! And in college... I think I'm going to be sick... You two-bit slut... Raa-erf! Shut up, pal, like you can talk! And behind my back, too! You Sith bastard! {ignites lightsaber, advances on Darth; Jerry ineffectually calls for security} This is for mom! {short lightsaber battle ensues; Luke gets his hand chopped off} AAARGH! Perhaps you are not as strong as the Emperor thought... {turns to Jerry} Springer, you disappoint me. It is regrettable, but I am forced to leave a garrison here. Commander! {Stormtroopers begin to file into the studio; screams from the audience as the Stormtroopers begin to open fire} Um...that's all for today, folks! Join us next time for: Lesbian Nazi Hookers: Abducted by Bothans and Forced into Weight-Loss Programs. (apologies to Weird Al Yankovic ) You've failed me for the last time, Springer...{raises his hand in a choking gesture} HUURK...gurgle! C'mon, Chewie, let's get outta here...it was a boring conversation anyway. Wurf!

"The Wilhelm" is the phrase you're looking for, I believe. I always smile whenever I hear it in a movie...

That's not entirely true, Mask. After all, your 'Dllentries' replacement brings up new possibilities for replacing the event pictures in Rebed. Not exactly a 'revolutionary' change (pardon the pun) to RebEd, but a notable one, nonetheless. Oh, the anticipation!

Interesting update: I finally got Rebellion to where I (currently) want it to be, at least as far as the ships, characters, models, etc. What was left was the descriptions for each in the encyclopedia. Now, as I described above, many of these were oddly mangled. In addition, ResHack refused to let me tamper with the 'corrupted' entries, in that I couldn't alter the text. Since most of the entries were hosed, I decided to play it safe. I saved all the images, text, and source information I needed, uninstalled Rebellion, Rebed, and ResHack, and reinstalled 'em all. Then I manually made all of my changes to bring it back to the way I like it. The funny thing is, though, that if I make a change to the encyclopedia text in Rebed, it appears to be corrupted in ResHack as detailed above. I'm able to easily replace it by simply replacing the entry with an original one from an uncorruped copy of the .dll and then make the appropriate changes, but it's still an interesting problem.

GIS does have some pretty cool applications...it just helps to be really into maps. I can understand your aversion to it, though. And the ESRI user conference is tough to get into, especially when they're discussing applications of the software that have absolutely nothing to do with your field. Nice site, BTW.

I’ve been working on ‘customizing’ Rebellion (haven’t we all!), and I’ve run into a bit of a roadblock. I have attempted to keep both sides roughly ‘equal’ in terms of number and power of their capital ships, but I’ve been surprised how difficult it is to maintain that delicate balance. That being said, take a look at my arrangement of the capital ships & fighters for both sides before I continue: Initial Ships & Fighters Available Rebel- 2 Fighters & 3 Capital Ships Y-Wing X-Wing Medium Transport Bulk Cruiser Corellian Corvette Imperial – 1 Fighter & 4 Capital Ships (plus the DS) TIE Fighter Carrack Light Cruiser Death Star Lambda Shuttlecraft Imperial star Destroyer Victory Star Destroyer Both Sides – Four Capital Ships Bulk Transport Dreadnought Escort Carrier (Imperial) Invincible-class Light Cruiser Research Trees Rebel- 9 ships, 2 fighters Imperial- 8 ships, three fighters 2- MC80 Cruiser; TIE Bomber 3- A-Wing; Sentinel Landing Craft 4- Corellian Gunship; TIE Interceptor 5- MC40 Destroyer; Lancer Frigate 6- CC-7700 Frigate; Interdictor Cruiser 7- Assault Frigate & B-Wing; Victory II Star Destroyer 9- MC80b Heavy Cruiser; TIE Defender 10- Liberator Cruiser; Loronar Strike Cruiser 11- MC90 Battlecruiser; Imperial II Star Destroyer 12- Bulwark Battlecruiser; Super Star Destroyer Both Sides- 2 ships 1- Nebulon-B Frigate 8- Golan III Defense Platform (I use the 'battlestations' patch to keep it from moving) Changes/Replacements Alliance Dreadnought – Golan III (available to both sides) Alliance Escort Carrier – Nebulon-B (available to both sides) Mon Calamari Cruiser – MC80 (not a big change) CC-9600 Frigate – MC80b Heavy Cruiser Dauntless Cruiser – MC90 Battlecruiser Galleon – Lambda Shuttlecraft Assault Transport – Sentinel Landing Craft Star Galleon – Invincible-class Light Cruiser Imperial Dreadnought – Republic Dreadnought (available to both sides) Imperial Escort Carrier – KDY Escort Carrier (available to both sides) Bulk Transport – Reduced to 4 troop capacity (available to both sides) Nebulon-B – MC40 As you can see, none of the changes were too drastic. Exceptions could be argued for the Galleon, Star Galleon, and Assault Transport, though. (I’d be happy to e-mail the spreadsheet listing all the stats to anyone interested; it’s a modified version of the one I requested above. Thanks, again, to Shadow_of_Thrawn for his help with that!) Don’t be too harsh in judging the ship selection; I feel I was very fair in assigning stats for each one. However, my issue started with the Invincible-class light cruiser (by EW I think; either him or Eville_Jedi). I included it because I wanted another ship available to both sides, and the history on the card, while not canon, fit the bill. That said, I felt the Empire was getting the short end of the bargain even though both sides ended up with the same number of available ships. I thought of making the Invincible exclusive to the Imperials, but that threw off the ship count. I thought of changing it to a Sovereign or Allegiance class SD (with a cool model available for the Allegiance, to boot!), but then that would throw off the balance between the sides, for the same reason as making the Invincible exclusive, as well as power-wise when comparing capital ships. So I considered removing the Liberator and putting in New Republic Star Destroyers as compensation, as well as removing the Bulwark and putting in New Republic SSD’s (e.g., the Lusankya). Blasphemy, I know, but simply making the ISD2 and SSD available to both sides just doesn’t feel right. Anyway, that’s where I stand. My question to y’all is whether or not this all appears kosher to you, and/or whether or not I should make any of the changes I’ve listed. Have any of you made similar changes or encountered similar difficulties? BTW, I’ve noticed the ‘Hardwired Capital Ship Slot’ problem again. I had initially assigned the Invincible to the Galleon’s slot, only to have the computer give the Empire about six of them at start-up, and embark more troops on them than what their capacity allowed. The same goes for the MC40. I had initially replaced the Alliance Escort Carrier with the MC40 only to end up starting the game with 1 or two, and each with two fighter squadrons when it’s capacity is only 1. I've subsequently decided on the ‘replacements’ listed above. This gives the Empire several Lambda shuttles (albeit with two regiments of troops in each rather than the limit of 1 I designated for it) and the Alliance with 1 or 2 Nebulon-B’s. Anyway, give it some thought and let me know if I'm off my rocker. Thanks!

Hey, now! That's my livelyhood you're dissin', there! But let me tell ya, there's nothin' more exciting than sittin' in front of a computer, staring at maps of oil leases all day... If you're referring to the ESRI conference, then all I can say is, "Been there, done that". That's not to say there isn't a lot to get out of it, but you've really got to be into GIS to get a lot out of those meetings. I mean, there's a reason I'm submitting my packet for the Air Force, afterall. 'Course, that has more to do with the money (or lack thereof) in the GIS field in San Antonio...

I'm a Quality Control Digital Editor (GIS) working for a map company in San Antonio. I am, however, submitting my packet in April for the US Air Force as a Navigator, so we'll see how that goes. I got by bachelor's degree in Goepgraphy, with emphasis in GIS (Geographic Information Systems), in December of 2002, and I'm thinking about pursuing a Master's Degree in Homeland Security. But again, we'll see how that goes.

Another title could be "Deep thoughts about Rebellion/Supremacy". Just odd ideas and questions that have given me pause lately. Stuff like: * Does the number and type of shipyards on a system affect the amount of time it takes to repair a capital ship or fighter squadron? * Does the number and type (i.e., regular or advanced) of facility on a system affect the amount of time it takes for research? * Why can't LNR's shoot at invading ships as it does those that are initiating planetart bombardment? * Why can't starfighters shoot their torpedoes prior to the shields on a capital ship collapsing? (okay, this one we know) * Why doesn't a fleet officer's Leadership score improve whenever they've been victorious in a battle? * Where the heck does Texas_Fett come up with these goofy topics, anyway? Any others?

Hmm...yet another project to get myself into. Just so you know, Mask, my wife may end up hating you for pointing this out to me. Found 'em. Thanks again, Mask! (Man, I'm saying that a lot recently, aren't I? You're a gentleman and a scholar, my friend.) Hmm...about the only image I see missing from the new DllEntries in RebEd is the one for the Alliance Headquarters when it arrives at a new location. Other than that, I'm pretty sure they're all there.

Oh...my...GAWD!!! Thanks to the solutions Mask sent me, I finally got it all working! The new galaxy background...the MC90...YES!! Let me just say that anyone who doesn't take the time to customize Rebellion with a few of the models and such on this site is really missing out. Even if all you do is upgrade a few models and change the background, it gives the game a much-needed breath of fresh air. Combined with all the options available with RebEd and ResHack, you're talking about a truly incredible resurrection of the game. Not that this is anything new to the regulars here, right? Great job, Mask, and all those involved in the new models, programs, cards, etc! I can't thank y'all enough! But enough brown-nosing...

Whoo, that's a pretty comprehensive site! Combined with the info from the Technical Commentaries you end up with a pretty complete picture of 'em. Thanks guys!

Interesting...now, isn't that a message from Artoo? If so, then is there a translation of what Artoo says to Luke (on the screen in the X-Wing) when he heads to Dagobah?

Thanks Evanders. I'd looked them over in the past and was disappointed in the general descriptions (more detail on other Rebel ships would be welcome on the site, too). But I suppose if I want more detail then I'll just have to fork over the dough for the Essential Guide to Vehicles/Starships or look at some of the WotC data rather than mooch all the free stuff on the web.