Krytos

Wow, tripple post . . . do I win a prize? After a mishap at uni resulting in me loosing a USB Flash drive and a lot of uni work and other work (including what I was working on, which put this on hold) I've finished texturing the Hapan Battle Dragon. Here's some pics . . . got carried away though, they all have bump maps and self-illumination maps, and a few have some glowing http://img363.imageshack.us/img363/6334/battledragon7xv.th.jpghttp://img363.imageshack.us/img363/3368/battledragon024yz.th.jpg http://img363.imageshack.us/img363/6173/battledragon033hc.th.jpghttp://img363.imageshack.us/img363/6175/battledragon048da.th.jpg http://img363.imageshack.us/img363/7329/battledragon053cn.th.jpghttp://img363.imageshack.us/img363/7531/battledragon061ly.th.jpg http://img363.imageshack.us/img363/6418/battledragon076px.th.jpghttp://img363.imageshack.us/img363/3570/battledragon085fa.th.jpg Aren't they pretty *Cough* On a serious note - it should be released for download very soon after the usual testing phase. I'm also creating a small document of "things to do" for my models. After I get them all done, I'll then try remaking the textures and hopefully they'll look better than they do now - sowhere along the lines of Mask's textures. As well as re-scalling the models, the larger they are in the game the less problems you have with the z-buffer issue of faces disappearing everynow and again. Though, considering that the Battle Dragon is meant to be 500 metres, and an ISD 1600 metres it wont be too much bigger. And finally, LOD models for all of them. So, if you wont a massive fleet of a couple of hundred ships your computer wont strain as much

No. But once my brother was out with some mates camping in middle of no-where when some drunks came up and tried the whole: "This aint a knife, this is a knife" thing with some Victoria knife - which has a blade that's abotu 1", 1.5" long. So my brother's mate decided to try his hand with the joke and pulled out his knife . . . an 8.5" straight blade. Got rid of the drunks quick

Oh no, long post to reply too I'll try to keep it short so people can read through it all I don't disagree that all we have to go with is the writters - though we need to always read between the lines. Considering that some writters seem to have little to no idea of the universe (as shown in the worst Star Wars novel thread), there's only so much we can go on. I mean, if we go by authors completely Star Destroyers could be destroyed in a matter of seconds by a squadron of X-Wings, or an MC-90 and a handful of Gunships could challenge a SSD. The NJO series had a lot of interviews with their authors. The author of Destiny's Way, for example, commented on his choice of ships in the book were made because he only had old texts of ships - that's why he wrote about MC-80s being used instead of 90s, Mediators and a whole range of other ships. We also know that there are a many contridictions in the NJO - even with the good authors, who would generally skim around anything that wasn't working right and in some cases got rid of things in the plot (like the New Rebellion within the NR/GFFA to help stop the Vong that just dissapeared). Nevertheless, I dont go making anything up (though I do try to fill in the blanks ) - but when a character is stated to be a good leader, tactitian etc. and not just passing by comments, I believe that over a poorly written space battle. Hard to tell for most of that, as all we can go on is the movies (or perhaps novels/original screenplay if anyone has them). I still think that there was a second large fleet to act as a strong divertion that was expecting to see heavy combat. Well, that's just me I do agree though that they would have lost all of those mentioned except Mon Mathma. I just think it's stupid to have her there, she's the leader of the Rebellion with little to no military experience and would act as a liability to the entire fleet knowing they'd need to protect her at all costs as well as trying to take on the Death Star. Oh, just thought of at least one character who'd come to play into the picture more so if the Rebel Alliance got wooped - Garm Bel Iblis. He'd be able to keep it alive for a very, very long time and still keep it as an effective rebellion. Just thought I'd bring that up True, though I'd still think considering how many people were willing to Rebel, that the Empire couldn't continue on throwing a lot of their funds into military armaments without worlds getting really annoyed and going for all out Rebellion. Which would be squoshed, but would continue to fuel the Rebellion. Still, it is more than possible for the Empire to have continued down this path. I guess it's one of those things that we can't know without it really happening - just like the topic of this debate Out of curiosity, has Thrawns "punishment" always been like this? Or has it come out from rescent novels? Because from what I've read, it sounded more like straight out punishment for defiance. You know, sending a military commander to the middle of no-where with no-known enemy to fight, to sit around and do nothing etc. Maybe I'm a little slow on the uptake I had no doubt that the Empire would have decimated the Chiss. I figured that the Imperial force wouldn't have been overwhelming, and as such the Chiss could have held out for a while - but in the end the Empire has the numbers and, if I'm not mistaken, would have had better ships as well. And even though Thrawn was exiled from Chiss space, I assumed he would have still harboured some form of honour or debt to them. I just couldn't see Thrawn sitting by as his people were overthrown by the Empire. Oops, miss-read your post. Sorry about that My point is that the Yuuzhan Vong we saw fighting the NR/GFFA were created from a religous warrior race that had torn apart there own galaxy fighting, built there entire social structure etc. on war and what they had learnt from generations of war and headed off to an unknown galaxy (something that the technology in the SW galaxy can't do - intergalactic travel). When they found a galaxy suitable, they infiltrated it before the Clone Wars and watched and learnt. As the NR came to power, they shifted their way of fighting to combat the NR. Had the Empire still been in control, the Vong would have been spending those 50 years plotting the destruction of the Empire by finding ways to counter them. The Vong weren't stupid enough to just rush in a try to fight the Empire if they knew about all the ships they had (which they would have) So, I'd expect the Vong to have ships better suited for fighting the Empire. Ships like the Matalok were meant to fight Mon Cals - so we could see them being quiet manouvrable etc. Against the Empire, perhaps they'd have worried more about firepower and additional shielding/dovan basils. The Vong didn't use many super capitals because they didn't need to. The NR only had a few, of which the Vong didn't know of the SSDs because they were hidden even to a lot of military commanders. Which is why they were effective agaist the Vong, they were rare and the Vong didn't regularily fight them or expect to. Though at the Battle of Mon Calamari the Viscount class Star Defender mentioned didn't seem to be having much of an impact in the battle against the Vong - which shows that when they expect to fight one they can effectively do so. On the other hand, they had many units for combatting fighters in the form of frigates, corvettes, carriers and Coral Skippers. It really comes down to a "what if" scenario. What if the Vong attacked the galaxy with the Empire incharge as they had attacked the NR? Result: Get smashed in a matter of 1 - 2 years of heavy, costly fighting with many worlds left destroyed or badly scarred due to both sides tactics. What if the Empire destroyed the Rebellion and the galaxy flew under one banned AND they decided that all their ships weren't need? A long and drawn out war would occur with the Vong having the initial advantage due to surprise and not needing to hold any/many worlds. Then it would slow down to a bloody slug fest were both sides would try to find quick ways of erridacting each other and destroy a sizable portion of the galaxy. The victor would be hard to call, but I'd still lean towards the Empire What if the Empire faced a Vong ready to fight them? Very, very bloody war with the Empire being badly crippled (loosing key planets like Coruscant) before find their footing again and contiuing the war for a long time before, eventually winning. What if I could keep my posts down to a readable size? Well, everyone could be bothered to read down to this part here

Sounds well thought out Antonius Interesting take on the original star wars storyline, I'll definitelly be trying yuor mod when it's released

What some guy on the Simpsons called a Cain Toad. And they're a plague in Queensland (which is what the Simpson's was referring too). I remember a time when it was comon practice in Queensland to go out with golf clubs and help "resolve" the problem. Now it's animal cruetly . . . well, it was always cruetly. I generally don't condone violence, or animal violence - but these guys are bad news. During the summer, when the toads come out of hybernation, the roads are literally covered with the little things, which become speed humps.

If all you want is just a starfield, I could render one in 3d studio max in a matter of minutes at any size you want and modifiy it a little. Here's a 1024x768 example Starfield - it's saved as a gif, though can be turned into a jpeg if needed. The size of the stars, the maximum and minium intensity can all be changed.

Well, that's what's good about these diverse communities - we can explain what's true and what's not. The images conjurred in your mind, such as shown in the Simpsons and Corcidile Dundee, are of "Outback Australia". This is actually the central region of Australia, which is a very whide spread and very arid with a lot of community towns (with at least one underground). I live in the State of Victoria, which has a city called Melbourne - here's a couple of quick pics: Pic 1, Pic2, Pic 3 It's a pretty small city in comparison to a lot of others around the world with a population of 3.5 million. And there are 5 other major cities Sydney, Brisbane, Adelade and Darwin. It's very modern, I think Australia is like the 13th richest country and Melbourne has been voted at least twice the most livable city in the world . . . not entirely sure why I live on the far, outskirts of Melbourne - and hour by train in a suburb called Upwey. Which is smallish - but hardly a town of under a hundred people, let a lone a coupleof thousand. I'm considered by city folk to be a "hick" or living in the sticks. The sticks part is right (and hicks does suit a lot of the pople that live here ), as I live next to a state forrest, my road is dirt (though connects to bitchamen ) and there are trees everywhere. Here a few images of the area I live in: Someone's backyard, Further into the hills I'd take some photos now - but it's night time so there's not much to see I'll try to get some tomorrow or the day after I occationally get Wallabies in my backyard (which are a smaller species of Kangaroo), lots of birds like Kookaburras, Roseallas, Cockatoos etc.

Was kinda over the top wasn't it I was in one of those ranting moods I sometimes get into I just hope GAT doesn't reply by quoting it all Thanks GMC. I didn't mean to put the Empire down, I mean come on - it's the Empire! But something I found with the NJO series I liked compared to most other EU novels was they way it picked at hte weaknesses in characters and other things set up in the EU like the New Republic which was shown to fall apart like the Old Republic did for simular reasons. And also killed off characters. So I figured if the Empire was in the same shoes, all of its weaknesses would pop up as well.

Well, neither ship actually exists. Jahled was joking . . . not sure about Zer_Teron though. Nevertheless, the MC-120 (and so many like it) is nothing more than fan fiction. Real Mon Cals (if that can be said) are as follows: MC-80 series, MC-90, Mediator and Viscount, MC-40 and another vessel simular to the 40 during NJO times. As for the HomeOne, it was weak on weaponary - yes. Though was strong as hell, and would have housed a large number of fighters.

Hmm, I like my movies - though must admit I don't see too many ( )Pirates of the Caribbean ( )Boondock Saints (x)The Mexican (x)Fight Club ( )Starsky and Hutch (x)Neverending Story (x)Blazing Saddles ( )Garden State ( )The Princess Bride (x)Young Frankenstien ( )AnchorMan ( )Napoleon Dynamite ( )Saw - going to !!!!! ( )White noise ( )White Oleander ( ) Anger Management total here : 5 ( ) 50 First Dates ( ) Jason X (x)Scream (x)Scream 2 (x)Scream 3 (x)Scary Movie (x)Scary Movie 2 - How sad ( )Scary Movie 3 (x)American Pie (x)American Pie 2 (x)American Wedding (x)Harry Potter ( )Harry Potter 2 ( )Harry Potter 3 (x)Resident Evil I ( )Resident Evil 2 (x)The Wedding Singer ( )Little Black Book total here: 11 ( )The Village ( )Donnie Darko - another on the list ( )Lilo & Stitch ( )Finding Nemo ( )Finding Neverland ( )13 Ghosts ( )Signs - Guessed the ending and didn't even see it (x)The Grinch ( )Texas Chainsaw Massacre ( )White Chicks ( )Butterfly Effect ( )Thirteen going on 30 ( )Dodgeball (x)Universal Soldier ( )A Series Of Unfortunate Events (x) Along Came A Spider (x)Deep impact total here: 4 - This is looking bad ( )KingPin ( )Never Been Kissed (x)Meet The Parents ( )Meet the Fockers ( )Eight Crazy Nights ( )A Cinderella Story ( )The Terminal ( )The Lizzie McGuire Movie ( )Passport to Paris (x)Dumb & Dumber ( )Dumb & Dumberer (x)Final Destination ( )Final Destination 2 ( )Halloween ( )The Ring ( ) The Ring 2 (x)Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle - lol (x)Practical Magic - Bah (X) Chicago - Why? ( )Ghost Ship ( )From Hell ( )Hellboy ( )Secret Window (x)I Am Sam (x)The Whole Nine Yards ( )The Whole Ten Yards (x)The Day After Tomorrow ( )Child's Play ( )Bride of Chucky (x)Ten Things I Hate About You ( )Just Married ( )Gothika (x)Nightmare on Elm Street -When I was 5, that was soem scarry stuff ( )Sixteen Candles (X)Bad Boys (x)Bad Boys 2 ( )Joy Ride - its called a different name here tho (x)Seven (SE7EN) - Bloody awesome - get the pun (x)Oceans Eleven ( )Oceans Twelve ( )identity total here : 14! Best yet ( )Lone Star (x)Predator I (x)Predator II (x)Independence day ( )Cujo ( )Bronx Tale ( )Darkness Falls ( )Christine (x)ET ( )Children of the Corn ( )My boss' daughter ( )Maid in Manhattan ( )Frailty ( )Best bet ( )how to Lose a Guy in 10 Days ( )She's All That ( )Calendar Girls ( )sideways (x)Mars Attacks total here:4 (x)Event Horizon (x)Ever after - Don't remeber it though (x)Forrest Gump (x)Big Trouble in Little China (x)X-men 1 (x)X-men 2 (X)Catch Me If You Can ( )The Others ( )Freaky Friday ( )Reign of Fire ( )The Hot Chick ( )Swimfan ( )Miracle ( )Old School ( ) Ray ( )The Notebook ( )K-Pax total here: 7 (x)Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (x)Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (x)Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ( )A Walk to Remember ( )Boogeyman ( )Hitch ( )Back Door Sluts 9 - What ( ) Anal Acres 1 - The ( ) Anal Acres 2 - Hell? ( ) B-Cup Divas (x)The Fifth Element (x)Star Wars episode I The Phantom Menace (x)Star Wars episode II Attack of The Clones (x)Star Wars episode III Revenge of The Sith (x)Star Wars episode IV A New Hope (x)Star Wars episode V The Empire Strikes Back (x)Star Wars episode VI Return of The Jedi... - Oh, come on! ( )Troop Beverly Hills ( )Swimming with Sharks (x)Air Force One (x)For Richer or Poorer (x)Trainspotting ( )People under the stairs ( )Blue Velvet (x)Sound of music (X)Parent Trap ( )The Burbs (X)The Terminator ( )Empire Records ( )SLC Punk (x)Meet Joe Black ( )Wild girls (x)A Clockwork Orange ( )the Order (x)Spiderman ( )Spiderman 2 ( )Mean Girls (x)Shrek ( )Shrek 2 ( )The Incredibles ( )Collateral (x)The Fast & The Furious - Oh god, a crap flick that proves few people know about cars ( ) 2 Fast 2 Furious ( )Sky Captain & The World of Tomorrow ( )Closer ( )Big Money Hustlas total here : 21! Do I win something ? (x)Titanic ( )Saved (x)Bowling For Columbine - Very good ( )Farenheit 9/11 (x)The Sixth Sense - Guessed the ending (x)Artificial intelligence (AI) ( ) Love actually ( )Shutter ( )Ella Enchanted (x)Princess diaries 1 - I'd say I've got a younger sister . . . but I don't ( )Princess diaries 2 ( )Constantine ( )Million Dollar Baby ( )Envy ( )Eurotrip ( ) Malibu's Most wanted (x)Big Daddy ( )Black Sheep ( ) The Breakfast Club ( )West side story (x)Little Nicky total here :6 . . . me sucking again ( )A Christmas Story ( )Spanglish (x)Pulp Fiction ( )Sleepover (x) Evil Dead - go Bruce Campbell ( )Killer Klowns From Outer Space ( )The seed of chucky (x)Vanilla Sky ( ) Nightmare Before Christmas ( )Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (x)Interview with a Vampire (x)The Crow ( )Purple Rain (x)Reservoir Dogs (x)Wayne's World total here : 7 (x)Wayne's World 2 ( )21 Grams (x)Blow (x)Edward Scissorhands (x)Clerks - awesome Kevin Smith film (x)beauty and the beast (x)Guess Who ( )monster in-law ( )ELF (x)stuart little ( )stuart little 2 (x)Mall Rats (x)Chasing Amy - not KS' best work (x)Dogma ( )Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back total here : 11 - almost got the same as you (x)Beetlejuice (x)Last Samurai ( )The Amityville Horror ( )The Aviator (x)Romeo and Juliet ( )beauty shop ( )legally blonde ( )legally blonde 2 ( )the forgotten - I forget . . I'll shut up now ( )confessions of a teenage drama queen ( )grudge ( )wimbledon (x)bring it on - was on TV, what can I say ( )bring it on again ( )flight of the phoenix (x)johnsons family vaction (x)vegas family vacation ( )thirteen. ( )Drive Me Crazy total here : 6 ( )2001: a space odessy ( )dr. strangelove how i came to love the bomb (x)Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (x)Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (x)Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom ( )animal house (x)happy gilmore ( )Rocky Horrow Picture Show ( )Beavis and Butthead do America ( )School Of Rock ( )GodFather I ( )Godfather II ( )Godfather III ( )Scarface ( )Bones total here : 4 ( )Any Given Sunday ( ) The Art of War ( )Still, We Believe total here : 0 How about these: ( )Queen of the Damned ( )Reality Bites ( )The Wall ( )Once Upon a Time in Mexico ( )Spirited Away ( )Cowboy Bebop: The Movie - there was a movie? Cool (x)Good Morning Vietnam (x)Mrs. Doubtfire (x)Bruce Almighty (x)Home Alone (x)Home Alone 2 ( )Home Alone 3 - saw HA 4 though . . was crap (x)The Mighty Ducks (x)The Mighty Ducks 2 (x)The Mighty Ducks 3 total here : 8 (x)Memphis Belle ( ) Last of the Mohicans (x)Shawshank Redemption - another great ( )Spy Kids ( )Spy Kids 2 ( )Spy Kids 3-D (x)Dark City - awesome movie ( )Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (x)Minority Report (x)beaches ( )Sweet Home Alabama ( )Dracula 2000 ( )Citizen Kane (x)Password: Swordfish ( )Van Helsing (x)Road Trip total here: 7 Krytos' Complete Total: 110 Hmm, there are a few there I'll need to see as well

OOC: Ok, I'll post tomorrow that can either rap the thread up or be the closing for it so we can start the next thread. I think we need to make some kind of rules for the next one - were if you join, you can't leave. As well as something about posting times I know SM and Trej have there own huge RPG going, not to mention RL stuff - so I wasn't incinuating (sp?) that they're at fault. This RP more or less fall apart by itself unfortunately.

The two rickety crafts tumbled through space, towards the small Rebel armada ailing to help them. One a badly damaged frigate, with it's hull covered in burns and several gapping breaches into the craft. The other, a small frigate weaving with an unorthodox elegance and with shields near collapsed. Sitting at the commander's chair of the Frigate was Karn Macen, and Afton in the ships cargo hold. Earlier in the day he'd been on Bespin working for the Rebellion. And then, within minutes he was running for his life through the twisting alleys and coridors of the cloud city. Now the same hunters had followed him to his ship, and through hyperspace to another world. The Empire was relentless like that. And now, not only were they hounding Karn and his friends though also the pirate occupants of the planet they'd come to. Piloting the freighter was Ulic and gunning for him was Sib. Both of which he'd met on this journey Karn was stressed out. His mind was tired, as was his body. They had so little left to go, yet it would seem like an eterntiy to pass the monstorous creatures that blocked their direct paths. And all it would take is several good, direct hits and he'd by no more. He'd manouvred his ship as far away from the Imperial cruisers as he could, while also still manouvring to stop either of the two Imperials vessesl from getting their for or full broadsides on him. A wave of dispare washed over Karn, and he began to regreat. Regreat all he'd miss, all he hadn't done, all he wanted to do. Deep down, he had a sinking feeling that he wouldn't live through this. His stomache jumped a little as the ship's inertia dampners stopped the majority of the effect of the tight manouvre the ship just dove into - Narrowly being missed by the Imperial vessel. Karn then jumped to his feet in dibelief. No, they couldn't be. Kre'nel turned to him, and could read the shock in his face. "What is it Karn?" "Those . . . Havn't you noticed? They're playing with us! The batteries are firing in short burst, and those massive anti-capital batteries have been following us for the past . . . I don't know how long, without firing. That ISD could have turned us to space debris in a matter of seconds but has chosen not to." "Perhaps they want us alive?" "Maybe," Karn muttered as he walked to the forward viewport. That, or with the Rebel ships near they wont to lour them into a trap "No, no - they're using us bait for the Rebel capitals over there. And the Alliance can't afford to loose ships like that. . . we . . . we might have to to something overly noble Kre'nel" Kre'nel just stared back at him in slight disbelief, and then nodded. It's not over yet Karn, I've almost got this running a voice said in his head. "What? Did you hear that?" "What Karn?" Confused, Karn responded. "It sounded like Afton!" Almost as soon as he'd uttered her name, all the screens and instruments on the his ship flikcered with static and a long whine bled over the speakers before stopping. The jammer! Afon got the jammer going! "Go, go, go!!! Straight for the jump zone! We're clear for a few minutes!" Karn yelled as he litterally jumped in the air. The ISD fell quiet as it's instruments jammed. A little while later several eratic bolts screamed out of the ships guns, though no wear near their intended target. "See that Ulic, they can't hit a thing!" Before Ulic could respond the Rebel ships opened a line of communication. "What the hell was that? Our equipment just shut down or something?" "Don't worry, we'll explain later - just keep that window open, we're on the way now." Karn was impressed Afton had managed to stop the jammer from effecting his ship, Ulic's and the Rebels. He'd be forever in her debt now. In under a minute, both battered crafts made it to the jump point un-hindered. And with their Rebel allies, jumped into hyperspace and away from danger. Karn fell back in his chair, a relief almost dripped out of his body. He opened a line to his ships crew. "Good work everybody, good work. It's over now." OOC: We could leave it there, or meet up for one last time in this thread to say our goodbyes? I vote for the goodbye post.

Rantar laughed a little as Afton ran out of the room after asking him to meet up for drinks. She'd been so enthusiastic about it she had forgoten to stay for his responce. Rantar's responce was going to be yes anyway. He'd enjoy hanging around with a friend just sharing a drink and a yarn. Rantar slowly got up, and walked off to his room to get changed into something less conspicuous than the clothing - if it could be called that - he was currently wearing. He reached his quarters quickly, and began looking through his draws. There was little to choose from, afterall he hadn't been able to pack up his things before leaving - all the clothing he had now was "borrowed" from people he'd never met and would probably enver meet again. After a few seconds of diliberation, Rantar picked the only peices of clothing in the draw that weren't dirty and raggered. He put on a grey t-shirt with a soft blue tint, then threw over that an informal suit jacket with a jumpsuit style collar and a pair of black, matching pants. As Rantar looked at himself in the mirror he paused and thought - where did I steal these clothes from? Better yet, who? Rantar then left for the bar. Knowing the base well, Rantar made it there in a mater of seconds from his quarters and stood at the bar while waiting for Afton. Rantar was stretching and cracking his kneck, a bad habbit he'd picked up lately, as Afton walked in. She wore a nice blue shirt, that Rantar couldn't help but notice brought out her eyes, and black pants. Rantar also picked up on how they both stood out in the hell hold that they were in. It was a comforting thought, that soon all of this could return to normal. "Evening Afton, you're looking particularily lovely tonight", Rantar said with a smile. OOC: Haha, before re-reading your post I was wearing practically the same stuff as you - black pants and a dark blue shirt So I changed it a little Good to see you back Jess, how you been?

I've got to say, there's a lot of good ideas and characters in these threads. Keep up the good work everyone Oh, and nice uber character TK421 I bet Trej is flattered

Well, I'm not much of a motorbike rider and I don't think here's a good area for one anyway - too many accidents and deaths occur with bike riders. And I also like my sports cars It's just there are only so many efficient sports cars out there, and I dont see me buying a Porsche . . . though I have been thinknig about a 924 or 928 which goes for 12 Grand or so, but I'd be completely broke then Anyway, my cars on sale - got one person looking at it who asked almost half what I asked for so no-sale there. But after that's gone, I'll use my *shudder* mum's car which is highly fuel efficient (but it's a people mover with a 1.5letre straight 4, with all it's power and torque in the low end of the revs - not too mention crap breaks, very poor centre of gravity and very soft suspention with a long ride) until I get another one. Letely, I've had my eye on an Audi 90 for around 6G which if it's still around by the tiem I sell the car I'll look into

True, but on both accounts the Vong learnt and weren't lead into the same mistakes twice. While technology worked as bait still agaisnt the Vong, they tightened their reigns on their troops and stopped it leading to defeat. As for the ambush at Ebaq 9, the Vong's reluctance to retreat wasn't well seen here. They had brought in a massive fleet to attack what was thought to be the last leaders of the Republic - a prize worth sacrificing a lot for anyway as it would have crippled the NR beyond repair. When they were eventually confronted by the full force of the NR, the Warmaster eventually called for a retreat (little did he know that due to the area they were fighting in, the NR had set up a massive mine field at their jump point). Those vessels that remained didn't just roll over, they fought to the death and took a lot of NR vessels with them - especially with their kamakaze strikes. So there "religious" zelous was both a benifit and disadvantage to the Vong. Also, there were several strong examples of Vong leaders who were far more militarised. The War masters father (forget is name, actually most of the Vong's names ) who taught other Vong's how to fight/lead, the next warmaster, the Vong leader on Yselia and others. One of the reasons the Vong were such a potent enemy, and as shown and stated in many novels, was there ability to change to new situations. New tactics, manouvres and technology worked once against the Vong before they were able to defeat it. But the same went for the NR, which is why they were able to survive even with the hindering of the goverment as well as against much larger numbers. Whilst the Empire would have had greater numbers, they were much slower to adapt to new situations - with Thrawn and some others being an exception. However, they were all overshadowed in some way. Which would have been one of their greatest down falls in a battle against the Vong. Ok, time to play devil's advocate : I think that only shows us that the writters were limited when it comes to inventive thinking. If you look at all the battles in the novels, they rarely got into talking about how the fleets manouvred - they just fired on each other. Yet, there's also comments about Kre'Fey being a brilliant tactician - as Elegos said, something to the effect of, when talknig to his captors: "Brilliant, but not in the same way as Thrawn" etc, etc. It was just the way the novels were written. Ok, totally agree except we know that there was a bigger Rebel fleet gathering at Sullust that was being used as a distraction. Also, if the Rebel fleet were lost at Endor, there was this other fleet as well as unknown vessels not mentioned and the main players of the Rebellion were still alive like Mon Mathma - so we can speculate that the Rebel Alliance would have kept fighting and more Imperials would have defected over time. To true, the Rebel Alliance would have been forced into hidding for along time and more or less disappear after the battle of Endor until it would re-emerge. We know most beings in the galazy weren't the happiest with the Empire and a lot would join fight still - which was strongly shown after the Emperor died. So, I'd see the Rebel Alliance as a threat still. But how would the Empire fare differently? No more wars to fight, they'd control most of the galaxy, and most of their veteran commanders and fighters would have retired long ago - but unlike the NR who only stopped the war with the Empire several years earlier, the Empire would asummably only be contending with small pockets of reisistance. I'd see the Empire whooping the Ssi-ruuk at Bakura (not Balmora, gotto love all the simular names ), and leaving a force their to fight the Srr-Ruuvi until they find their home world and make them extinct. As for taking that technology- I doubt the Empire could have gotten their hands on it before the Ssi-ruuk destroyed it. I doubt they would let the Empire get near it, being that prized a weapon. I'd be surprised if the Empire would have used any other species as slaves in battle, but it's possilbe. Alos, they had already enslaved a lot of the races in the galaxy like the Wookies and Mon Calamari people. This I strongly doubt. Thrawn was sent to the Unknown Regions as punishment for ticking off the Emporer (who is not as forgiving as Vader ). Not to mention, if (or should I say when) Palpatine would find out about the Hand of Thrawn . . . I'm not sure if he'd be too happy about the instalation and The Empire of the Hand would unfortunatley never exist. I'd consider Thrawn more or less out of the picture until a threat like the Vong came into existance - and I doubt Palpatine would let him retire or get to far out of reach by keeping strong control over supplies as well as having his own spies checking up on someone as dangerous as Thrawn. Even when he comes back, how much he'll be allowed to help is unknown. I agree that the Empire would continue hunting down the Rebellion as well as continue to take over most of the known galaxy (not so sure about the areas in the Outer Rim, and I'd see the Empire trying to make their way into Unknown Regions which would spread the Empire thinner - even if they have an incredibly large number of ships). And I'd also give them a 90% change of breaking up the Alliance - killing off the Rebellion in general would be impossible. I dont see the Chiss being assimulated by the Empire - and if they were it would be by force, creating a new war (a war that would either end quickly by the Empire throwing their full weight into it before the Chiss know what's happening. Or a very, very long war) for the Empire at least. Which would in turn make Thrawn an enemy of the Empire (my assumption here, I'll let either GAT or SM correct me as they know the character far better than me). The Black fleet crisis would never occur, and I'd think that there'd be a general upgrade in technology - though not as much as the NR because they'd have less of a need of a technological advantage over an enemy (which kinda doesn't exist except for a few wars that would spring up) as they have a numerical advantage. I thought there was only ever 1 Master, and 1 Apprentice as shown in the movies? Thank god, the last one ! Ther scouting party was a lot of wide spread infiltrators studying their enemy as well as in some instances inciting trouble. Under the Empire, the same would occur - except the trouble and rebellions inciting would be in the form of sleeper cells waiting for the rest of the Vong to come along to strike as to 'cause as much damage as possible. Imagine hundreds of terrorist strikes and rebellions popping up all over the galaxy as an completely unknown enemy strikes the Outer Rim without being noticed (lets remember, the planets they started to build up on weren't populated and only one had an independant survey team on it). If for some miraculous reason the Empire catches a Vong infiltrator (don't know how they would either) there's no way they talk. Not only could the Vong take the torture, they'd have some organism to commit suicide for them an rendering their body useless for study. I don't believe the Empire would be able to figure out that an alien race was invading them from outside the galaxy (which most people didn't believe in the NJO books as they thought it was impossilbe), let alone where they were going to hit. My overall contention still stands that the Empire wouldn't have fared any better than the New Republic, as the Yuuzhan Vong devoloped their strategies and teactics based soley on their enemy - they're also a race brought up on war, honour, their gods and defeating those they consider infidels and spent 50 years devoloping their tactics weapons and preparing to attack the galaxy and it was in the last decade or so that their infiltrators started the ground works by de-stabalizing planets and the NR goverment, which as I talked about earlier would have worked as effectivelly on an over controlling Empire. If the Empire had been in charge at the time, the war would have looked completely different yet had a simular effect where the Empire would have little intellegence on the enemy, confused by their alien ways (I'd think very confused considering the way that very few aliens entered the Imperial ranks)

Woo! Already watched the first three episodes on the Weekend

Ok, my consensus is that the Vong would have been just as effective against the Empire as they were against the NR/GFFA. Let's not forget that the Vong were in the galaxy for a long, long time studying their targets and learning how to beat them. In the novels, we see an enemy better tuned to fighting the New Republic and their tactics - though they could have easily switched tactics for a fight against the Empire. The Vong already proved that their society is more than capable than adjusting for any form of conflict. It's only assumed that the Empire would win because of their brute force - yet that proved to be their failing against the Rebellion. Some facts that I'd like to bring up are to do with the Vong's own use of "super weapons". They're capable of terra-forming planets in a matter of days, with disastrous effect. They can kill all living creatures on a planet with a super bacteria. And if the need arrised, they can meet the challenge. Swarn and kamikaze strikes are already common in the Vong lines, which prove fatal against concentrated capitol ships. I could see a vong fleet build up of several capital ships bombarding Imperials at long range whilst swarms of carriers released Coral Skippers to release havoc against their enemy, as well as developing new weapons better suited to the task, such as actual Bomber, manoeuvrable capitals that use powerful dovan basils to take down shields of capitals etc. etc. etc. The Rebellion already showed the weaknesses with the Empire, and the Vong could easily exploit them. Whilst the Vong had a strong tendency to sacrifice the population of a planet, they also enslaved them or in the case of the Peace Brigade gained allies. And we also know that the Empire as a weak hold on the Outer Rim - simular to the problem the New Republic had in fighting the Vong so far away from their major worlds. However, unlike the NR who kept their fleets around the core because of the Senate fearing that their important worlds would fall, the Empire would also have to deal with more hostilities in these weakly controlled regions from pirates and rebel groups (and assuming the Rebel Alliance was still in existence, that would undoubtedly be the region of their choice) making it very, very hard to attempt to hold - and in the end, there's a very small chance that they could actually hold the Outer Rim region. With the galaxy already infiltrated by the Vong by characters such as the Nom Anor, planets could easily be swayed to join against the Vong and fight their oppressors - which they did to the New Republic as well, though it would have a far greater effect with the Empire. Infiltrate any Death Stars etc. So, I'd think that the Vong would be able to get to Coruscant with a lot of planets in their wake willingly joining in the fight - adding unknown numbers to the fight as well as staging bases. So, to the actual battle. We know that the Vong aren't invincible and can be defeated be shear firepower - such as at Borleias with the Lusankya. However, that only proved useful once. The Vong adapt quickly to battles, and considering that Empire would have been using excessive firepower throughout their campaign, and the flaws to these tactics would have been revealed before this major battle. So, first off the Vong wouldn't have used refugee ships against the Empire - the only reason they used them earlier was because the New Republic showed them that they were willing to fight to save the civilians - the Empire would have proven that they wouldn't bother giving up a strategic position in order to save civilians. Instead, replace those ships with Rebel style warships and fighters backing up the Vong. So, we can also assume that the Empire would have gathered as much of their fleets as they could and might even hold simular numbers to the Vong. At the same time we know that the Vong could muster their own super weapons. On Serpindal the Vong used a massive Dovan Basil to bring down the moon - and knew they would loose it. So, surely they could breed some more for this battle - the question is how much could they stop? Could one basil stop a Death Star laser? Doubtful. Could a larger one, or multiple basils work? Probably - though would be a prime target for the enemy. As for destroying a a Death Star - well, we'll assume that there isn't a weakness that can be exploited like in the movies. However, the Vong do have those massive creatures used to destroy space stations (one of which could rip up huge chunks of the DS and perhaps cripple required components on the DS), mixed with some new species of grutchins to eat deep into and infiltrators on board the space stations (which will undoubtedly be true - I could imagine a high concentration of Vong infiltrators within the ranks of the Empire as the Vong can mimic humans quiet well. Not too mention, I could see any planetary shields or planet based shields for the death star infiltrated as well and being rendered ineffective - especially without units capable of detecting the Vong through their mask thingies). All in all, I think that a Death Star could be disabled in, or possibly before battle - significantly weakening the Empire. Which leaves it down to the fleets duke-ing it out with high losses on both sides. It's hard to say who would win the battle, as both sides would be fighting to the death to get the planet and have tactics to defeat the other. However, I'd think that the Empire's over use of large capitals would become their short fall again with the Vong's Coral Skippers and Blast Bolders taking suicide runs on key Imperial ships breaking their ranks. All in all, I'd be weighted towards the Vong and their allies to win the space battle. Now, comes phase two - the fight for Coruscant on the ground. Here, I'd be willing to bet the Vong win out due to having the planet surrounded with ships, but not without being forced to retreat off planet due to incredibly high losses and simply blasting most Imperial positions to slag. I could see the Empire employing some ruthless tactics, like having ships sacrifice themselves to bombard the planet and Vong forces that just landed as well as many other tactics that would kill civilians in order to damage the Vong. Not to mention Vader letting loose on the Vong. But in the end, my money would over all be on the Vong. For the Empire to win, after the battle they would need would need to convince the Vong’s allies to join them. Of course, I’d imagine that the Empire would have several other strong hold, military worlds to strike from. As well as Thrawn to hold his own and continuously assault the Vong. The over all victor would be difficult to say. The NR/GFFA needed the Remnant’s, Chiss’ and Jedi’s help to win – I’d assume that the Empire would need a simular alliance to beat the ever resourceful, never-ending Vong.

Well, to my knowledge at least, myself, Mad and The Mask now how to use 3d Studio Max - and do so on a regular basis. There may be others on the forum, but to my knowledge. Hmm, well 3D Studio Max is for creating 3d objects and effects in a 3d world and rendering that to different mediums - so if you're planning on making the film computer generated or with special effects requiring computer generation then Max might be what you're after. However, if you're just after a program that can import multiple file types to edit or convert them (acting like a file Hub), you'd want something like After Effects. Or Pro Tools (Well, actually something easier and cheaper) to edit the film clips to add text or music - however, I think you can add sound through 3ds, though not entirelly sure. So, yeah like Mad said - once you find out more give us a call

[space Freighter Saleman's voice] Why settle for bland imperial grey, when you could be flying through space with looking like this!?! http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/6789/lineup1or.th.jpg This new generation, 8 PAC paint will not peal even if hit by a turbolaser! They remain glossy all year round and require only minimal cleaning. Now you too can pilot the hotest thing in space besides a star. And don't worry - we do Star Destroyers as well! [/space Freighter Saleman's voice] @Mad: You are correct sir! After our little conversation, I felt like doing another render with caustics that I could use as a backdrop - and ta da @GAT: Gah, stupid image shack resized my image!! Just drag it into your explorer bar for the real res version without the jaggered edges (or look at the direct linkto the image). And, I'll render you a 1600x1200 tonight EDIT: Here ya go Res: 1600x1200 http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/1259/backdrop1600x12000wd.th.jpg Imageshack will risize it again for showing it - but it'll save as the proper res

Ahaha, nice find Tex! ! ! I missed it when you posted it, but better late then never My new desktop backdrop http://img387.imageshack.us/img387/3315/caustics3pw.th.jpg

Scalling the ships correctly has been done before and has been tried with the SSD. The problem is that the SSD is too big, and you either make all other ships obsurdly small or the SSD spands across the "holocube" looking rather bad. Ships around 3k or smaller could be to scale without much problems, but without a better way of controlling the view of ingame it makes it difficult to notice ships bellow 400 metres. It's best to use a simular scalling idea as Rebellion just for viewing ease, though I'd still put in a stronger lean towards a realistic scale.

No, I too have had this same problem where the sector's names and the small system graphics dont show. Like Jonny, the problem fixed itself for me

A little bad news - due to current RL (ie. job and uni work) obligations and work on Reloaded, the Battle Dragon has been put on the backburners - so she'll be a while before getting finished. I'll try to work on it whenever I get an extra free chance, texturing is boring but can be deliteful after doing some other mundane work

Have to say Vader. Palpi was good, though Vader was always a better character - far more depth. He also had a laid back way with most of things he did as if none of it took effort, which was just classy