Master_Xan

I'm glad I didn't start reading this until now; I haven't had to wait for any installments yet! Course, now I do... This is good enough that with a little editing, I think it could be published in some form or another. Perhaps as a short story?

Started a new Rebellion game today, and just because I'm bored, I'll put the game's progress here as things happen. Starting conditions: Large galaxy, Hard, Normal victory. I'm the Alliance (Note: To get better fleet battles, and faster, I've modified the cost of all ships, along with troops and facilities. I've made all troops and facilities researched at the beginning, allowing for much faster build-up of infrastructure. So if the speed seems off to you, that's probably it.) One or two planets in each sector, nowhere do I have any strongholds. The Imps have most of Sesswenna and Farfin sectors and a few planets in each of the other sectors. I control Yaga Minor and have Sarin Vergilio there, he immediatly goes on espionage missions to determine their beginning troop and general placements in the Sesswenna sector. I have a very good start, with multiple troop training facilities and several shipyards. Immediately they begin churning out Xwings and Mon Cal regiments, accordingly. Two Mon Cal regiments per planet, with 6 on my capital, Tierfon in the Sumitra sector (same sector as Yavin, a good location for HQ). Also putting 6 on Yavin, and 3 for the moment on Yaga Minor; my goal is to hold at least one planet in each sector to use as a staging base, and I expect Yaga Minor to come under attack quickly. Lucky for me, it started with a shipyard, so I'll have some Xwings to beat off any troop transports they send over. I'm hoping to have a large group of Xwings deployed on Yavin to beat off their initial assault there; usually I just abandon the planet, but with my HQ in the same sector I don't want the Imps getting any intel on the other planets, or worse, capturing Yavin and using it as a base. In addition, I started with two, yes, two escort carriers. One at Tierfon, and one at Duros. In that sector (Corellian), I have Duros and Talus; the Empire only has three planets in the sector, so this is a prime sector for Alliance control. I transfer my special operatives agents (those good with sabotage and espionage) to Duros, and get the shipyard at Talus building Xwings for the carrier stationed at Duros. I keep the carrier there instead of Talus because two of the Imperial planets, including Corellia, are closer to Duros, so I expect it to be attacked first. Because my HQ is near Yavin, I transfer Mon Mothma there and take advantage of Han's speed when I move all those characters into the core. First stop, my holdings in the Farfin sector. I'm not defending them too heavily; the Imperial presence in the sector is too strong to hope for a quick victory here, and there aren't any planets that support me but are under Imp control. But I want my two planets in the system to fully support me before I begin ignoring them, and more importantly, one of my only two construction yards is present on Wistril. I'll have to hold that planet for some time until I get more construction yards built elsewhere. Taking stock of other goings on, I notice that one system is ripe for an Alliance takeover. I only control one planet in the Sluis sector, Praesitlyn, while the Empire has several planets there. But two of those planets are garrisoned worlds! I take the fleet from HQ, consisting of two Correllian Corvettes and one of my carriers and move them to Praesitlyn. Because that carrier was at the HQ, it's already been filled with fighters; two Xwings and 4 Awings. This is also where I decide to move my characters to next; after doing diplomacy missions in Farfin sector they all move straight to Praesitlyn via Han's additional speed. This is where I'll make my stronghold, recruiting additional characters and dealing my first decisive blow against the tyranical Empire! I leave my medium transport at HQ, load it up and have it take all the planets in the Sumitra sector, one by one. After the HQ construction yard is finished building adv. construction yards, it has 5 of them. The Sumitra sector will become a major grouping point for my forces; most of the planets will become mining or refining systems, but I'll have one, maybe two shipyards there, as both Boordii and Alk'something have extensive energy available. I also turn Kashyyyk into a troop production planet with 5 adv. troop training facilities, they will supply the entire sector and probably much of my fleets with troops. Uh oh, Talus is under blockade! The AI moves out before I can get a look at what's there. They'll probably turn up at Duros soon and I'll find out then, as my carrier with either fight or flee. Lando is doing diplomacy missions on the oddball planets I hold throughout the galaxy, including Yaga Minor. I like having my staging points like me, it makes it harder for them to do missions there, and thus easier to keep them until I make a major push into the sectors they are in. And if I do loose one, I can take it back fairly easily because the people will still like me. Because this is a long game, I'm going to need shield generators on most planets. As Wistril's construction yards finish up multiplying, I end up with 3 adv ones. They begin making shield gens, mach 2, for various planets throughout the galaxy. My fleet has arrived in the Sluis sector, so out they go! Just before heading to Kothlis I group them with a bulk cruiser I managed to pull from another sector for the fleet. Kothlis is being oppressed, I'll liberate that planet first. When I arrive, there's nobody to defend it, and no shield generators! Two military bombardments later, all 4 Imp troop regiments have met a grizzley fate. The people love me! Sluis Van has an uprising going on, two other planets have declared neutrality, and three have joined me! On to Sluis Van, more liberations to come! When my fleet arrives, there are again no orbital defenses. But there is a shield generator; fortunately Han and the others are nearly to Praesitlyn. After waiting for awhile, I get Chewy and Page over, and down goes that shield. I swiftly dispatch the 3 ground troops, and... now the people really love me! A few other planets join, Praesitlyn is completely red, and the final Imperial planet, Mon Cal, is in uprising. Quick, to Mon Cal! I'm sending my first wave of espionage characters to Duros, including Chewy and Page. Han and the other main characters are doing recruitment missions on Praesitlyn, and I'm shipping my ship researchers to HQ. Sometime soon those construction yards will build me a shipyard or to there in the Sumitra sector, and because thats in the Outer Rim away from the Imps it will make a fine researching base. The Imperial fleet that bothered Talus has now arrived at Duros... it has a VSD, one Carrack, and a few TIEs. Too much for my carrier to take alone, especially since it doesn't have a full compliment of fighters yet. I retreat, but they move off as well. I return the carrier to Duros; it has to be there to protect the characters which will soon arrive. When I arrive at Mon Cal, I'm greeted by a TIE squad. That doesn't last long against a carrier worth of Alliance fighters. There's no shields, but I find to my dismay that there is a turbolaser battery. Maybe I shouldn't have shipped all my sabotage characters to Duros already... no matter. I bombard the planet, causing the last few systems in the sector to join me. My bulk cruiser takes a heavy hit from that turbolaser though; its out of commission until some repairs are done. Its day 122, and I control the entire Sluis sector. I have troops on each of the systems in the Sumitra sector, some of which are now sporting brand-new mines or refineries. Kashyyyk has training facilities as well, and several planets throughout the galaxy have a shield generator mach 2 already en route. Its time to buckle down, build some infrastructure to take advantage of the sector I know control, and recruit some personel. Loosing so many planets should hurt the Imperial war machine for awhile until they can get new sources of raw materials and refined materials, so it should be safe for awhile to build up and recruit without any strong offensive pushes. I'll have to get some defense to Yavin if I hope to hold it, and Yaga Minor will need heavy reinforcements, as will Duros and Talus.

I've gotten to the point where I can basically choose when to win a game against the AI. At the drop of a hat, I can pretty much annihilate their entire fleet (except in the first 100-200 days). Its sad really; I have to control myself, hold myself back, and not do things just to get a few decent battles. I'm really looking forward to RR because it will make things different, replace some of the replay value I've lost because of how stupid the AI is. (You'd think I should play multiplayer, but I don't have the time for an entire game in one sitting and have had bad experiences with trying to save and return later. I need a few fellows I can get to know outside of the web, and then I could actually play some multi.)

I've actually beta tested several games before, and its not that bad. As long as the game is decent, you can get into it and then you don't mind some of the repetition. Being an alpha tester would be worse in some respects, (more bugs and more repetition), but being paid would be a nice incentive, and as an alpha tester you have more control over the outcome and correcting of problems... I can't tell you how many times I'd catch an error in the beta stage and it would never be corrected. In alpha, you actually talk to the developers, and I imagine some companies might even give you access to the code itself for minor tweaks. I'd actually like to have that job myself... although I don't think I'd do well as a developer. Maybe a concept/storyline guy, but not the one who has to sit down every day and crank out code for 8 hours.

That's quite the fleet setup there. I usually have an ISD and some support ships, like a few lancers and carracks. Carriers are only needed for the mobile fleets, so I don't leave any stationed at Corescant. 48 TIE intercepter squads and 9 dark trooper regiments, two shield generators. On the rare occassion that they do attack Corescant, this has always been more then enough... that many fighters will do a lot, and the one and only time the Rebels overpowered them they couldn't break through the shields anyway, and with a general and 9 dark troopers on the ground none of their missions got through. Later in the game I'll park three ISDIIs there, and lately I've put a few Dreadnaughts as well (I modded them up a bit to reflect new technology upgrades, so they are actually useful). That whole sector is usually under tight Imperial control in under 300 days, so I never need more then that and one rapid responce fleet, which remains at Corescant until called for. Even that fleet only contains a max of 3 ISDs or ISDIIs, one or two carriers, and a few smaller support ships. My first several games I was very disappointed at the AI Empire's defense of Corescant. The only way to get a decent battle there is to play as the Empire and then get the Alliance to attack you; do that by leaving them a planet in the sector to stage attacks from. Just like I was always disappointed by the AI Alliance's defense of their capital; usually just a few fighter squadrons and maybe a blockade runner or two.

Quite the impressive listing for one so young. I too started gaming at a young age, though I was often discouraged from online play by how I was treated by other gamers. As a result I still have problems getting into MMORPGs and other such games; too many people are fond of treating others as newbies for their age or inexperience, even when it should be the other way around. For instance, when I started playing games Wolfenstein was a big game. The original, not the remake. I'd been gaming for years when I started playing Tibia, but the people there treated me like I was four. I played the game for years, then stopped for awhile. I'm playing again, but because of my low level character I'm again treated like an infant. Which is really funny considering I know more about the game then most of the players ever will. Its sad really. (oh, and I'd stay away from Tibia, which is why I didn't link to it. Much too addictive and not that great a game anyway.) Moral of the story is don't be discouraged by the many foolish people you could run into online. I'd also suggest trying to beta test a retail game in addition to the mods you've already tested, it looks good on your resume. Shoot for a smaller company (its very hard to be a tester for somebody like EA Games), then move up to better-known ones later.

I'm with Krytos, my job is pretty laughable and crappy. I've mentioned it around here somewhere, I'm a salesman for Radio Shack. Very boring, though I have learned quite a bit about the products and human behavior. It will be some time before I get into my career, I still have a 2 year mission and college to get through. I'm planning something in computers, but so far I haven't been able to narrow it down any more then that.

I find people knocking my faith like a punch to the face... if they're serious. If I got all bent out of shape over every joke about Mormons having thirty wives (which we don't, by the way), I'd be in anger managment by now. Or worse, jail. I draw the line with jokes and good humour; as long as its in good taste I don't see a problem. You have to have a little tolerance for that sort of thing, but it seems to me that some people go looking for things to take offense from. Surely you've heard plenty of 'blonde' jokes? I see no problem with most of those, partially because I know its not true and partly because its just a joke anyway. And when you take into affect that I'm making fun of myself, as someone who has argued more then I should online, then this particular joke should be fine. My older sister works with mentally handicapped children, and she laughed at it. And she doesn't even like the term 'retarded'!

Hmm... somehow, I feel that arguing this point would only be digging the grave deeper... or confusing. Probably both, so I'll just shut up now. Although I should point out that I did mention Arkansas as one of the three most beautiful places I've ever been, and I'd actually like to live there some day. So obviously, whether you choose to group them together or not, having odd people that like guns isn't too terrible for me.

Sorry, I wasn't trying to say everybody in Arkansas is a redneck. But my experience there tells me that they are more numerous then any other area I've been to (I have cousins living outside Little Rock, I've been down there several times). I lived in Idaho for 16 years and saw many redneck-types up there as well, and in the surrounding areas like Oregon and Montana. I've traveled to the East Coast and have family living in California and Florida. About the only places left in the US I have no knowledge of are Alaska and the area around Maine... I still hold to there being many rednecks in Arkansas. (Though you are right, Georgia is pretty overpopulated with them too...)

Not even sure if Cade is a decendant of Ben or not... Personally, I think that the Empire would have won a war against the Vong, but not as easily as everybody else seems to think. They are too slow to adapt, unlike the NR. But they still would have won in the end... I really liked the NJO series. The authors were very good, I like the new view of the force, and as previously mentioned, they really draw the galaxy together. In particular, I'd like to see some more books focusing on the Chiss. Legacy is sounding good, though I need to read the few books after NJO sometime soon here.

Not entirely true. There are a lot of rednecks in Illinois. Nothing compared to Arkansas, I can assure you... but probably more then Oregon. Plains and flat areas are great to look at for awhile, but after a few weeks/months/years its just so... blah.

[rant] It appears that some of you are more interested in being politically correct then anything more important, like intentions or enjoyment. I'm a salesman, I spend all day 5-6 days a week being politically correct. You have to be politically correct at school, even in church. Sometimes I get tired of being politically correct, and I get fed up with people who can never loosen up. The picture I posted was meant to be funny, not offensive. Why must people take offense at everything? At the end of the day, I care more about having fun and relaxing then I do about offending someone, somewhere. Really, there are too many people that take offense at every little thing, and I'm pretty tired of living my life just so as to make sure that nobody could ever possibly dream up a different interpretation to what I do that might be offensive to someone. The picture wasn't meant to offend, I'm sorry if it did, but really there's nothing I can do to change how you interpret things, and to be honest I don't really care all that much because I know it wasn't too bad and I didn't mean anything by it. [/rant] The second picture, however, really just doesn't have any taste...

I know what you mean. Living in South Dakota, its flat. I can't even find a decent sledding hill! Yes yes, I know all about the 'glorious mountains' of South Dakota. They even have president's faces here! But no matter how you say it, when I walk outside and look around... nothing for as far as the eye can see. Personally, the most beautiful places I've ever been are northern Idaho, the forests of Oregon, and parts of Arkansas. Strangely, each one of those places has forests, mountains, and streams, and each is inhabited by gun-toting lunatics. (I think the rednecks have the best property in the entire USA )

I give up on you guys. I thought it was funny without being offensive. So its not my fault if you find it offensive.

Yep, I do. And now don't you just feel retarded? Personally, I think a few of you guys should lighten up a bit. If the day comes when I can't make fun of myself and another group at the same time, then you'd better just shoot me and get it over with before mobs start to form outside my house.

PR department, local representative for a multi-billion dollar a year non-profit organization who's specialty is saving souls and feeding stomachs (when the need arrises). And don't forget about their subsidary, The Mormon Moving Co.

AAAH! Run for the hills, we've been di... wait a minute. Never, never say it like that. It makes me want to crack jokes (and if I were a middle schooler, then we all know those jokes would be crude, without taste, and probably involving more swearing then a sailor).

My first game consisted of me building troops everywhere, trying to figure out what planetary cannons were good for, and why I had no refined minerals. The Imps had my head on a silver platter in no time at all. Second game I'd gotten mines/refineries down a little, but still put 6-9 troops per planet and wondered where all my maintainance went...

I have a few fond memories of middle school, most of which involve video games or a favorite teacher. Maybe I matured earlier then most kids, maybe I never matured at all, but for the most part I didn't get along with most of my peers. A few friends was all I ever had in middle or even high school.

Not just middle school. Grades 7-10 were terrible for me, and then 11 was bad because I moved and was in a new, drastically different school. 6th grade was my best year! But then I'm a little abnormal, didn't like high school much (or at all) so don't listen to me and try to guess what it'll be like for you.

I hated middle school, for that reason. Since I don't watch much TV, no rated R movies, and am not a friend of dirty jokes, I was one of but a few middle schoolers who didn't think everything was a sexual innuendo, and worse, didn't get them at all anyway. Kids would just bust up laughing when I said things, leaving me looking around all confused...

Virtually everything I learned about Rebellion I learned on my own or from the manual, as I didn't find the forums until many years after I started playing. I'd guess this is the same way with most of the old school players like D16. It took me about that long to figure out decoys, and at least a year (probably more) to feel comfortable with tactical combat.

My older sister works with 'retarded'/'special' kids. Its her job, so I've gotten to know a few of them. Some of the nicest, sweetest kids you'll ever meet. Add in my younger sister, who works at a nursing home, and I've met some... well, for lack of a better way to put it, I've met some pretty retarded people. I don't have anything against them, the picture wasn't made by me (found it on another forum). It should be taken in jest only. As someone who has argued profusely online, I think I can say that it's pretty accurate. At least, when I step back and think about it, I feel pretty retarded.

Well hey, its true... As for this Bro Bench, he sounds a lot like a Bro Wynn, a teacher in my old ward. Great guy, great wife, more kids then I could count.