DarthTex

Are you going to read only the one X-wing series book, or the whole series (eventually)? For Jabba's book, only highlight if you can handle a mini-spoiler The tales told in the Jabba book, all relate and run into each other. It's basically different stories from different people's perspectives that coincide with the other story tellers. It's OK and gives some details on things you wouldn't normally find out. The X-wing series of books are good, with some books better than others. PS @GAT: New avatar why the change?

Kyrtos, Following is a brief update on the recent Zoot War, following the attack on you by DarthTofu. Defender16 was almost terminated bringing Furball DNA to Q-branch. Tofu had seized control of Cape Canaveral in an attempt to destroy Q-branch base on the moon. Somehow, Tofu acquired an ISD III and attacked the Reloaded Labs on earth (they had really relocated earlier, leaving the base abandoned as a decoy). A new Q-branch transfer, EVO, brought forth an experimental weapon to use on the ISD III. The ISD III lost all navigational control and began to plummet into the atmosphere. Q-branch tractor beams caught the ISD III and were bringing it back to the moon for capture. After a brief fire fight, the ISD III self destructed. Tofu managed to get to an escape pod and made it back to earth. Zoot was particularly angry with Tofu's failure; his Zoot provided limbs detached and a Zoot agent was to terminate Tofu. Tofu was very fortunate to be rescued by the mysterious Jedi Shaft, who transported him to Q-branch. Tofu has agreed to provide information on Zoot activities that he is aware of, for new prosthetic limbs (and to get revenge on Zoot). Defender16 took a team to destroy a Zoot base on Neptune's moon, Triton. They have NOT reported back. I led a raid on a Zoot base in Texas. The facility was destroyed and some items retrieved for information. Mitth said he was forwarding these items to you to research (a shielded case, a computer hard drive and some unknown computer chips). Mitth has sent Tofu on a SAR (search and rescue) mission to the Triton base to find out what happened to Defender16 and his team, and recover them if possible. I just read over Tofu's after action report on his mission. Defender16 has been captured and maybe others from his team. Tofu is now heading to meet up with you per Mitth's order. Krytos, be cautious with Tofu. I don't know if you can truly trust his motives. He may be using Q branch as a means to get his revenge on Zoot. He might care less about what happens to the rest of us. After reading Tofu's report, I'm speculating the computer chips you are going to receive are some kind of "control chip". I think our (SWR and Q-branch) equipment suppliers are being duped to use "Zoot" procured chips, for its own evil plans. I'll have to forward my hypothesis on to Mitth for review. Let me know what you find out about the shielded case, hard drive and chips. Regards, DarthTex P.S. Congratulations on the computer upgrade (I hear Q-branch is sending you a new computer!). ****************** The corridor was dark, with low lighting between support columns. The only sound was that of footsteps. They were proceeding with a steady measured pace towards the end of the corridor. At the end of the corridor, were massive doors, shielded for scans and any weapon discharges. As the figure approached the doors, it stopped and looked into the security camera. The doors parted noiselessly, allowing entrance into an inner sanctum. Low level spotlights from all around the room focused on a single location at its center. The figure moved forward and stopped at the lighted spot. Through the glare of the spotlights, the only thing that could be spotted in the darkness was a pair of vertical slits set in green feline eyes. "Yes, Commander? You have something to report?" "Yes, Master. Two bases in the Sol system have failed to report in as scheduled. The first base was the chip distribution center on the Terran North American continent. Triton base sent a recon team to investigate. They found the base destroyed." "What about the agent who was stationed there?" "They believe he was killed, cut in half. Most of the bodies have been picked clean by the local fire ants, leaving only uniforms and equipment." "And what of the inventory that was stored there?" "With the exception of a single open box, all the chips were still sealed in their boxes. The chips have been distributed to their destinations." "Is the special package still there under our control?" "No Master. It was not found." "Order Triton base to search and recover that package immediately. It can not be allowed to fall into the enemy's hands. There would be great consequences should they learn its secrets." "Master, Triton base is the second base that no longer reports in." "Is the base still under repair from the failed attack?" "That maybe Master. I shall endeavor to find out." "What of our captive?" "He is still unconscious Master, and horribly disfigured from the premature detonation of their faulty explosive device. As soon as he comes to, the interrogation will begin." "Very well, keep me informed on your progress. Commander, I will place two special agents at your disposal for the recovery of the package. Have a strike team assembled and standing by for their use, once it has been located. Time is of the essence. Also, see if any chips are missing, if so have three of them activated in scout mode. This might inform us who has commandeered them, and maybe they can find the package as well." "Yes Master, it will be done." The Commander bowed, then turned to leave. As the massive doors opened and shut again, the only sound in the corridor was that of footsteps proceeding with a steady measured pace. ****************** The transport shuttle from Q-branch was approximately halfway to Krytos' base on Europa (one of Jupiter's moons). The base was basically a version of the Reloaded Labs, modified for the frigid "waters" of Europa. There were several crates bound for the base, mostly supplies and such. But there was one crate that held special interest. This crate carried in it a duristeel case containing a computer hard drive packed in foam padding, a shielded crate with unknown contents, a cardboard box from SendEx originating from Texas that contained computer chips, and a brand new full-tower top-of-the-line computer from Q-branch. Krytos' new computer had a quad-core 4.2 GHz processor motherboard with 128 Gigs of RAM and a 100 Terra byte hard drive. The tower had five whisper quiet fans and two coolant ports "input" and "discharge". This PC would take advantage of the chill waters of Europa to cool the processors with internal stainless steel tubing encompassing the quad core. With a 16K by 9K pixel widescreen 16 Gig Ram video card, and wireless keyboard and mouse, this system also had exceptional peripheral devices. A large improvement over the original laptop Krytos was used to using. But, deep in the special crate, inside the SendEx box, if one could have noticed, they would have seen three distinct points of light growing in intensity. At one such point, the vacuum packaging began to melt away. Soon there was a hole approximately the size of a (US) quarter (~25mm) in the packaging, and something was making its way out. One of the computer "chips" appeared to be moving, using the chip seating pins as "legs". It proceeded to explore the interior of its small box world. Upon discovery of its other brethren, the "chips" paused and linked to assess the situation. They then proceeded to a corner of their small world, and started working at breaking the walls of their confinement. It didn't take long for the cardboard walls of the SendEx box to be breached. The "chips" proceeded to explore the interior of the larger crate. A shielded crate was discovered and then passed by, as was the duristeel case that was encountered. The final object was discovered, Krytos new PC. This was the best target for the "chips". Slowly they made their way through the interior of the computer, until each was located over one of the 4.2 GHz processors. Then slowly the "chips" began to disassemble the computer processors, adding the material onto themselves. As the "chips" grew in size, more components of the PC were consumed and integrated as the "chips" began to transform themselves. The rate of transformation was proceeding geometrically with the total transformation to be completed before the shuttle docking at Europa base. When the shuttle finally docked, there would be three new items in the crate and one severely damaged full-tower not-so-top-of-the-line computer. 780

The irony of the situation is, after continuing the game (I have yet to write the next section), a natural disaster befell my poor HQ planet wiping out all defensive facilities with the exception of two Gen Core II's

Day 2100, current status: For the last 200 days, I’ve been building up my fleets with more Bulwark battle cruisers, Dauntless cruisers, Liberator cruisers and plenty of A-wings, X-wings and B-wings. Also, it’s been very frustrating trying to constantly keep tabs on the new & improved Imperial Navy. All ships when they are completed disappear for a time until intelligence comes in showing a destination. As of now, the Imperial ship construction program is practically completed. There is only 1 SSD and 1 ISD II still under construction, all other ships have been completed. I’ve managed to finally track most of the latest Imperial ships. Coruscant (in orbit): 2 ISD II’s, 1 strike cruiser, 1 SSD. Coruscant (enroute): 1 ISD II, 1 SSD. Morvogodine (in orbit, Admiral Thrawn): 2 SSD’s, 2 lancers, 1 strike cruiser, 1 carrack, 1 dreadnaught. Ando (in orbit): 1 SSD. The Imperial Navy is woefully short on fighters for the fleets. Most systems have none or 8-10 fighters, but the ships hardly any. All of the Star Galleons produced earlier can’t be found. After my extensive search campaign tracking the ISD II’s and SSD’s, I can only assume they have been scrapped. It doesn’t appear that the Empire is going to initiate any offensive campaigns, which is a bit disappointing. Therefore, I’m going to “pick a fightâ€

SOCL wrote: DarthTofu wrote: I know your real name also, plus you provided your home address Do you want to provide us with your phone number, or should we call you?

(*** shakes head in disgust, mumbling ***) ignorant whelp The knowledge base is a database of problems and lists of suggested fixes. There are NO people interactively involved And you are correct, most tech support (especially over the phone) is horrible

Mitth wrote: I get the "old" part, but "recluse"? It's not like I'm a lurker or something

Have you gone to Microsoft.com and queried their knowledge base? Otherwise in the search bar type "USB problems" and see where that leads you

The only thing I can think of is somehow the USB ports are not providing (electrical) power to the devices. Is there maybe a bad connection between the power supply and the motherboard? (USB) Devices that have high power requirements usually come with their own power supplies. Is there any way to check on or re-install drivers for the USB controller?

Mad78 wrote: you're (you are), not your (possessive) Anyway, first make sure the PC is plugged in ... ; OK, forget the obvious stuff. Are these USB ports on a separate card or integrated with the motherboard? Check all wiring connections for proper "seating". Do they register on the System Info as existing? BTW, what OS are you running, XP, Linux, Winders (that's Texan drawl for MS Windows)? Do you have any diagnostic programs you can run? I'm assuming you have non-USB keyboard/mouse and that you can run the PC as you normally would (sans USB), correct assumption on my part? That's all I can think of for now, not that it was much help (but maybe a fresh set of "ideas" might make you think of something ). Good Luck and keep us informed!

First the character(s) you want to do the mission must be capable of doing that type of mission. Using the Ctrl and Shift keys, select your characters and infiltrators (sabotage/rescue/abducting missions). Right click, pick "Mission" and click on your target. Before clicking the "Check" to proceed, there is a "tab" on the top right corner of the "mission box" (that's for decoys). Click that tab. Now on the left hand side is a list of all characters and units selected for the mission. Using the Ctrl and Shift keys, select which character(s) and/or unit(s) you want to be decoys. Click the little "arrow" pointing to the right (this is the decoy list). To remove someone or unit from the decoy list, select them and click the "arrow" pointing to the left. After you're satisfied with unit/character assignments, now click the "Check" at the bottom to proceed with the mission. Good Luck

SOCL wrote: Correct

I think it's appropriate for Tofu (stupid looking, chaotic, colorful and whimsical: a perfect match). Good job Tofu, cheers

Terry Brook's the Magic Kindom For Sale is a great series to read (and damn funny at times). I liked those and most of the Shanara stuff, although I haven't read the latest installments

You're quoting General MacArthur, and it's "soldiers" not "Jedi". So, how do you explain Qui-Gon? He didn't fade away, unless you talk about his ashes being blown away by the wind. Or all of the Jedi that get killed in AotC and RotS; not too many "empty" robes lying around without bodies

Clancy does write great books; his problem is writing 900+ pages of story and right when the good action is ready to start, you realize there's only 10 pages left to read i.e. The Bear and The Dragon. Great story lines, only to have them end in mere pages after building the story up, up and up. What a let down; it's almost anti-climatic (go look that one up Tofu ). Stephen Coontz writes some good stories (a la Clancy, but better), and follows up with good endings (he wraps up most, if not all, of the loose ends). Some stories are a bit far-fetched, but hey, it's fiction Dale Brown (not Dan) writes some wild techno stuff, almost to the point it's sci-fi. But he can get long winded at times

Mitth wrote: Horsemen are always fun I'm the understudy for War

Mitth wrote: I wish I could right now, but ... I won't retire, I'll just fade away ...

(*** looks around seeing if anybody is listening ***) Psssst. Psssst. Mitth? Mitth, it's Worf; change it quickly, BEAKers are lurking!

Another was DarkSaber (basically the DS superlaser with the DS superstructure surrounding it). Centerpoint station (as used by Thracken Solo and Anakin Solo) Torpedoe Sphere (I don't know if this is a superweapon, but it is a powerful one) There was another (I think it was a concept only, maybe a ruse by the Empire in the X-wing series, but I can't remember the name), it was basically a mini-DS with a gravity well and loads of laser/turbolasers for starfighters and capital ships (Hey Tofu, you have a young memory and like correcting people, what's the name?) Pulsar Station? or something like that. Master_Xan wrote: In the hands of a truly "evil" person it's devasting, in the hands of the Empire or NR, it would be just a waste. Destroying entire solar systems (planets, people, resources, etc) is a total waste. Using said resources (captured) would definitely would be better than throwing them away. The Suncrusher is a neat idea, it just needed better handicaps (no sun destroying torpedoes or short range or technical problems or gremlins , etc).

I know this is (still) off topic ... but ... Best wishes to you and your mom, GMC. My wife lost her mom to stomach cancer last year, one week after her mom's birthday. Spend as much time as you can with her, because someday you won't get the chance. I'm glad to hear she has a positive outlook on things, it will definitely help in the long run. (back on topic) Great link Krytos! There went an hour of my morning

SOCL wrote: @SOCL: Don't let personal likes distract you. Logic must prevail! instructor (there is no "e") DarthTofu wrote: What you consider "theoretical", I use as practical. What I believe is "theoretical" would give you a catatonic fit PS I share my birthday with Albert Einstein, March 14th

SOCL wrote: Yeehaw! Anyway, I just finished the latest Harry Potter, also two of Clive Cusslers' latest fictional techno thrillers.

Go to the "Outside Interests" forum, "SWR Map - Place your marker!" topic

What were you expecting, Ewoks? Considering the game came out in the mid-90's, and you need some reasonable cognitive abilities to play, I would guess that at the youngest you could have a 9-10 year old player (just a guess). Assuming you were at 9-10 when the game first came out, you would be approximately close to 20 years old (plus/minus 3-4 years). That is probably the majority of the people here (or at least the "active" people). Then there are all of the "older" players, of which I would hazard to guess at about a dozen are "active" (and not in the "senior" sense ). Although ...